Sunday, December 11, 2016

Love is Never a Waste of Time and TRANSFERS!

Hello Family and Friends! This week was AWESOME!!! :) Truly it was.


Monday we ran into the Supply Elders and guess what? You know Sylvester from Nkanofa the one Elder Hodson and I dropped? Well he is baptized and he has the Aaronic Priesthood and is helping the missionaries!! I guess it wasn't our time to help him. He was a GREAT guy! But when we were teaching with him we just couldn't get him to church and we just felt blocked, but I showed him to Elder Johnson and now he is a member. Our "Love truly wasn't a waste of time" Some people just need time to figure things out and Elder Simpson and Elder Johnson helped him with that so that was cool! 


Tuesday- we found out where our less active member (Sister Hilda) stays! we found her on her street and she took us to her place and we were able to talk to her about Prayer. One member told us, “Oh she is a less active”, but we have to treat our less active members like a new investigator (Lots of love, NO judging, and help them understand our purpose to help), so it was a really nice lesson with her. Then we saw Sister Patience (Brother Ninson's older daughter) and she accepted a Baptism Date!!!! :) SO excited, I never thought I would see the day that she accepted that, but the husband and her are splitting up (Not my preferred option because of the children, but this way she can be happy) and she is ready to  get baptized!!! WOOO!!! SO happy; it's hard to describe, but truly ALL of the months we spent trying to help other really in the end has helped, because "Love truly is never a waste of time." Then we saw Brother Ninson and went with him through the Baptism Interview questions and everything went well!!!


Later in the week Elder Yao and I headed to Ankaful to baptism interview for Sister Johnny and Sister Nyangoma and it went really well. Her name was Abigail and I guess there was some of the sister missionaries who went home, called her and told her to start meeting with Sister Johnny and Sister Nyganmoa, and she did and it was this time that she was ready. After the interview we saw Brother Ninson and talked to him about the Temple and The Priesthood. He asked us "The church is good, so why do so many people fall away" I didn't have an adequate answer for him, but the church really is good and I was SO happy that he realized that. We also got a referral of a woman named Naomi who is usually at this school, so we were going to see her (We talked to her a few days before) but she looked at us as if she REALLY did not want to meet with us, so we decided maybe next time we will try to see her. But "Love truly is never a waste of time" so if it means just saying hello or a simple handshake, people's hearts will eventually be touched. Even if we won't see the fruits of our efforts. We went to the Baptism for Sister Nyangoma and and Sister Johnny and it was great!!! Really great to see both of these woman getting baptized! Then we went back and gave Brother Ninson the "game plan" for Saturday and made sure that everything was okay.


Saturday was Brother Ninson's Baptism!!! SO great, we went 1 hour so that way they could be prepared for the Baptism at 4:00 P.M. Sister Millicent on the way gave us PPP handkerchiefs so that was cool. She even put it on my head, but we didn't wear it too long so that way we don't get into trouble with Politics, but I did keep it because it is cool :) Okay so Brother Ninson and his whole family came (Sister Patience included) and The Elmina Zone Leaders came to combine with us because they don't have any clothes, so we had 3 people baptized on Saturday! The cool part was one of the Guys being baptized (from Elmina Ward) knew Brother Ninson very well! His name was Kobina Adjei and I guessed they BOTH used to go to the same church but know they have both stopped and got baptized on the SAME DAY! For me it touched me that the Lord does know us and he knows what we need, and what can help us follow him. "Love truly is never a waste of time " (We got fed FuFu 3 times from Sister Vida and her family so we were pretty full Saturday evening)


Sunday was really great. Sister Vida and Brother Ninson came to church early for the confirmation and it went so well. (I just bought some ties for Brother Ninson so he could look really nice because he doesn't have a tie). Sister Vida was in tears during the baptism and at the confirmation so it was really cool to see how this family’s life has been changed. Sister Patience came (Like I said doing REALLY well) and Mary Eshoun came so that was nice. We are determined to help Mary Eshoun because she is the only member of her family who is not part of the church, but every visit we try to help and one day she will get there :) After church we saw Chief Amako and he has some strange questions (Almost 2 years in the church) about women needing to cover their head (1st Corinthians 11) and we explained to him later on the chapter Paul says that we don't do this in church and the women's hair is given her for a covering so she doesn't need to, I am not saying this in good terms but look at it from 12-16 and it makes sense, but he was still being a bit stubborn about it, but we are trying to help him because "Love truly is never a waste of time". We want to help him receive the Melchizedek Priesthood so hopefully we can help him. Then we went to see Brother Ninson and they fed us FuFu this time with PALM NUT SOUP!!!!  :) SO good, much better than a chop bar. Patience's children were funny because they were trying to sell their flip flops for 2000 and 5000 (20 pesweas and 50 pesweas) a lot of people use the old currency so sometimes they will say 1 million but they mean 100 Ghana. So I find that interesting. (Did I explain this before? I can't remember). 




Anyways it was really nice to meet with them. There is this dance for the couples of the Church for the Cape Coast Stake, and they are going to have lots of fun I guess for Best Dress Couple, Funniest Couple etc. But the price is 70 ghana. (More than a lot of people can afford) so that's sad but Brother Ampiah told us he is going to pay for Sister Vida and Brother Ninson!!! SO neat! We haven't told them yet, we are waiting for him to tell them, but they would be the Funniest Couple for sure! SO sweet, so I am so excited that they will get to go because Mame was telling me that they won't go because of the money but I know she will enjoy it :) Brother Ampiah is really great and his "Love truly is never a waste of time". Oh we have this small girl we are working with named Eunice and her grandparents, so hopefully we can get permission for the Granddaughter (She keeps telling us she wants to be baptized) and then hopefully the grandfather will move back and then they will be baptized. They have been taught before and like the church, it's just his work situation that makes him stay in Kumasi, so hopefully he can move down here he told us by next year, so hopefully he can do that, but we will keep working "




By now you know my thought for you guys today is just to remember, "Love truly is never a waste of time" We can do SO much good by just the small things that we do, and eventually we will touch people's lives. I loved Grandma's letter because she and her friends comforted one of their friends that was crying, telling her it's going to be okay, even they didn't know the situation. what a GREAT example of LOVE! Very simple, and yet probably made this one sister feel really loved and cared for, so I challenge you all just to do the small things, even if you may not see the result we have a lot of people who need to feel that love, so I am going to try to be better and just show all the love I can, even if people don't like me or don't accept our message, one day all things will work out and everyone will come to the knowledge of the truth of the Gospel. What I am truy grateful for is the Savior's love (And for him completely) and because his "Love truly is never a waste of time" I get to help my fellow brothers and Sisters feel that love, so let's all do some good, not just for thanksgiving, or Christmas, but when we FEEL really prompted that we need to help someone, "let's us reach down to the hands that hang hopelessly down" (PMG Chapter 6 Hope, Neal A. Maxwell I believe) WE can do it, I have seen it in multiple ways, the one's that become good, and those that may not like us, but as we do I can promise that we will becoming who our savior wants us to become. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH, I hope you can feel that, and I appreciate all the support you have given me. I wish I can tell you how much all of your letters and support mean to me, but just know that your love is helping me become better, and help others feel that love. Have a great week okay? :)
Lots of Love,
Elder Harward



Addendum
Lately I have not been drinking enough water so I got sick (Throwing up and Terrible headache) (I did get a priesthood blessing and it was truly inspired and from the Lord) and the doctor at DIS said, “Drink more water”, haha so I have been better at that. That night my companion got the call that he is going to train a new missionary! He is excited and I am too, so he went to the mission home on Friday and had his meeting and I chilled with the Zone Leaders until he got back and that was nice. Saturday I got  the call that I am leaving for Asebu!!!! it's in Yamoransa so I will still email in Cape Coast which is nice. It's a branch and they just got a good building and electricity, so that's nice! They should be getting water soon too! I will be in the Yamoransa Zone (No sisters all elders) and still a district leader so that will be cool. My companion is from Ghana named Elder Oforikuma and I will see him tomorrow (Tomorrow is our transfers) Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference and it was really nice, and I learned some really great things about the Savior and about Repentance.