What an amazing experience the Ghana Kumasi Mission had on June 12, 2023. Elder Gerrit W. Gong, his wife Susan Lindsay Gong, Elder S. Gifford Nielsen and his wife Wendy Olson Nielsen joined our 191 young missionaries and 4 senior missionary couples in a 1 hour and 45 minute devotional. In addition to that, the Gong’s, the Nielsen’s, and the Sosu’s (Elder Sosu had just been set apart as an Area Seventy) shook hands will all 199 missionaries and the 5 stake presidents and their wives who were also in attendance. What an amazing experience it was for us all!

In the time we had with him, he taught us so much. After the meeting and then in MLC and the next two zone conferences we discussed what we learned. I made a list and share it here. The entire letter we sent to the missionaries Sunday night can be found here.

What we learned from Elder Gong

• Start today and please take care of your companion.  Asked us to be just like Elder Holland and Elder Cook who still love each other after many, many years.
• The more we read the Book of Mormon, the more we will love our companion. The same will be true when we marry our eternal companion (said by Elder Sosu, reinforced by Elder Gong)
• We need to recognize others’ strengths more.
• Christ will never forget us so we should not forget Him.  His love for us will be over our entire lives.
• Missionaries are called to a mission for their entire lives.
• Our covenants connect us to the Savior.
• Having a happy marriage is always the Lord’s plan.
• Gratitude is a gateway virtue.
• The only way to happiness is thru righteousness.
• We should never call our Mission Leaders racist.
• We need to support our Mission Leaders.
• Treasures of heaven are right before our face, and often we do not recognize them.
• Don’t ever forget how you once felt.
• We are saved by grace after all we can do. Said he learned love from the Savior.
• Work hard and work smart.
• We are called by God to fulfill prophecy (JSH 1:33)
• We don’t go to the temple; we go to the temple to come unto the Lord and connect with Him.
• Christ is ministering personified.
• We have the same calling as the Apostles regarding missionary work. 
• The Savior’s marks are part of his perfection.
• The Key to High Love and High Expectations is through the Savior.
• Satan always abandons his followers. The Savior is always with us.
• Your eternal companion will not be perfect (but then neither are we).
• Honesty to companion and mission President is expected.
• We are not called to an area, but to the people and to Mission Leaders.
• Without Christ-like attributes we can do nothing.
• Love has demands.
• Everything we do and everyone we meet is part of our calling.  Missionaries need to know they are involved in a greater work!
• If we don’t do this work, who will?
• Trials prepare us for something greater.
• We can be tired, but we should never get weary.
• We are called to serve God.
• When we come to the Lord, we become like Him.
• We should bring someone with us to the Temple (referencing family history work).
• The size of the temple doesn’t matter – the covenants are always the same size.
• Virtue brings the power of the Priesthood.
• The church is based on honesty.
• You are with your companion to learn something that you may not learn any other way.
• Gospel companionships always row together. This means both forward and upward.
• We are not only interested in your life as a missionary, but also who you will become when you go home.
• Comment: It was a powerful personal encounter and a powerful example of 1:1 ministering.
• Comment:  It was not just what Elder Gong said.  The spirit changed when he came into the room.

Right before Elder Gong spoke, we had a special musical number by our Tongan Missionaries. It was beautiful. When we sang a couple of verses in English, Elder Gong said we were going to go sing with them. When they sang the last verse in Tongan, Elder Gong joined in with them. We were amazed that he could sing the Tongan version. What a special moment this was. Thanks to President Prosper Mensah who recorded this version and sent it to us.

After the devotional with Elder Gong, all seven companionships in the Bibiani zone traveled to the Mission Office where they stayed rather than return home and then come back again the next morning for zone conference. It was a great time to interview all of them. We finished at 8:15 pm. We then went home and joined the weekly MLC meeting that our Assistants had already started. Each week we pull together three questions that we want to counsel with the MLC on. This week they were:
1) What can we do with what we learned from Elder Gong to be better leaders in this mission? 2) Why did we have a increase with teaching with members? 3) What are you doing to raise the awareness of the missionaries regarding the connectedness of these 6 key indicator goals? We finished the meeting at 9:15 pm and went to bed. It had been a very rewarding day.

On Tuesday, we held the Bantama, Bibiani, and Obuasi combined zone conference. On Friday we held the University and Konongo conference.

The schedules followed the same format at those we held in Tamale in Sunyani. The only difference was the instructions that the zones received from their zone leaders. The general topic was a focus on how to achieve the goals that we set, but each zone leader companionship presented that under their own topic and in their own way. Every instruction was outstanding.

During the instruction by LaDawn, she had each missionary close their eyes and do a virtual walkthrough of their apartment. Once through with the apartment dirty and once with it clean. While she walked them through their apartments, I took a few unsuspecting pictures.

The role-plays on the questions of the soul continue to be excellent. I love the discussion that follows, especially in regards to how the missionaries use the scriptures cited in Preach My Gospel under each of the questions. Here are some of the role-plays from this past week.

And here are the whiteboards where we discussed how to use these powerful scriptures outlined in Preach My Gospel to answer the questions (as well as other scriptures missionaries like to use).

We have one more zone conference this next week with the Dichemso and Suame zones and then we will finish the interviews and start it all again. How we love this work!

Early on Thursday morning, prior to interviews at the Agric Building, we welcomed another new missionary to the Ghana Kumasi Mission. Sister Mwikali is our very first missionary (since we have been here) from Kenya. She came off cycle because her visa came early and she was eager to start her mission. She arrived in Kumasi at 7 am on the first flight of the day. We picked her up and brought her to the Mission Office and did a very abbreviated 2 hour orientation and introduction to the mission. She will be a wonderful addition to the Ghana Kumasi Mission!

As soon as we completed the orientation of Sister Mwikali, we drove to the Agric chapel and held interviews with 12 missionaries from the Bantama zone. I missed taking a picture of Sister Enokela and Sister Ngalamulume.

After the University and Konongo zone conference on Friday evening, we decided to order food from Aboude’s and the Loveland’s came over to the Mission Home and we had a nice meal together.

On Wednesday, I did companionship study with Elder Kasongo and Elder Taufu’i over the phone. I am always amazed at how well these “phone conference” studies go. Following the phone study, we went out and purchased some much needed groceries. Wednesday evening I had a presidency meeting.

Saturday was a catch-up day. I was still working on reading missionary letters from the prior week and once I finished those, I then read and responded to the current week letters. With Elder Gong’s visit on Monday, I received less than 70 for the week, making it possible to get through all of them on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday evening I wrote my weekly letter to the mission, this time summarizing Elder Gong’s visit (as mentioned above).

On Sunday, we attended the Dichemso Stake Conference. LaDawn and I spoke for a combined 10 minutes. LaDawn spoke on keeping our buildings clean and I spoke about the need to be more engaged in missionary work, sharing statistics and opportunities to do more. After the meeting we met the missionaries and a few of their investigators.

Sunday evening after a brief meeting with our Assistants, I enjoyed calls from our children wishing me a Happy Father’s day. What an incredible and memorable week it has been for us! How grateful we are to be engaged in this work where we are are given the privilege of working with the amazing missionaries of the Ghana Kumasi Mission. We see the hand of the Lord each and every day as we gather Israel one last time, Together in Ghana.