It has been 18 months since we were last in Wa. It is the most difficult trip we make and so we tend to avoid it more than we should. Wa is our only remaining mission branch and it is far away from everywhere else we go. Last year, President Joseph Asante, my second counselor in the mission presidency conducted the branch conference in December. It was clear the branch desired to again have the mission president attend, so we set a date early in the year. That day finally arrived on Saturday, July 16th. From Kumasi, the drive took us 9.5 hours, leaving at 7:15 am and arriving at 4:45 pm. We did get a 15 minute break in Techiman at the Thompsons, for which we were grateful. The drive is 450 km or 280 miles and normally that should take about 6 hours. But the road between Wenchi (45 minutes outside of Techiman) all the way to Wa is ridden with potholes. It makes the ride extremely bumpy and not all that fun. We were grateful when we hit a stretch or two that had been repaired and we could increase our pace.

Despite all the potholes, the drive to Wa has some areas that are beautiful. We stopped at one place on our drive on Sunday (we had to backtrack the same road for 90 km before turning in Sawla towards Tamale) and snapped a picture of a serene body of water. It was a great reminder once again of the beauty of the earth, no matter where we are.

It wasn’t until we were in sacrament meeting on Sunday and it was my turn to speak that I realized the potholes had been a blessing. How is that possible? As I sat on the stand listening to the other speakers President Kaleo (branch president), President Asante (my counselor), and LaDawn, I thought that I would speak on unity. I had some scriptures that I had prepared and thought I had it figured out. When I stepped to the stand, everything changed. I jokingly spoke about the difficult travel we had to Wa because of the potholes. I explained the reason the potholes existed was because of neglect. It was then the Spirit gave me the words to talk about the potholes in our lives and how we need to keep them repaired through repentance. On a number of occasions as we were driving, we found groups of boys who were filling some of the thousands of potholes with dirt in hopes that a passing motorist might give them a Cedi or two for their efforts. These types of repairs never last. If we are going to repair our potholes, it needs to be with “cement”. That which is available only through the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I went on to talk about the importance of scripture study as a way to keep our lives focused on Jesus Christ and the tree of life. I was extremely grateful for the help of the spirit to give me the words in the very moment that I needed them. It was a wonderful and amazing experience.

As part of the Branch Council Meeting afterwards, I asked the branch to list the names on the board of the 19 converts who were baptized over the preceding 12 months. They did a pretty good job, missing one family of four and listing several men who have been members for longer than a year. Of the 19, there were all but 5 of them either at church that day or away at school or recovering from surgery. We talked about how the missionaries and the branch leadership need to be working together to make sure that every convert is welcomed into the branch and given a responsibility to serve. When a comment was made that some new members make excuses as to why they are not attending, I assured the commenter that what the person was really saying was they do not have a firm testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the restoration of His Church. I think it hit home. We have to find ways to help people from where they are to where they need to be, rather than conclude they do not want to be involved with their Maker. It was an excellent meeting overall. I might also add that during some of second hour and before the branch council, I was able to interview Elder Braithwaite and Elder Dickson. They are both doing very well.

After the branch council meeting, we followed President and Sister Asante to the section of Wa where there is currently a proposal being made by the branch president and President Asante for a second branch. Part of the reason for the discussion on the recent converts was so that I could know if we do form a second branch whether the members will work closely with the missionaries to grow both the old and the new units. I also just wanted to get a feel for the area where the branch might be located. From there we drove the nearly 5 hours to Tamale. Even that road has a lot of sections where the pavement is completely gone, making it a pretty rough ride from time to time. We arrived just before 6 pm and had sloppy joes for dinner. LaDawn in her foresight cooked the meat before we left and then kept it on ice. It was a really nice treat. We are staying in the couples apartment where the Steinmetz’s lived for 18 months. It is much nicer here than the hotel!

Back to Monday. Monday morning we played basketball, Monday afternoon we welcomed the Steinmetz’s from Tamale as they prepared to fly home the next day, and Monday night we had another MLC virtual meeting.

It is hard to believe that it has already been 18 months since Chuck and Sharolyn Steinmetz arrived in the mission and made their way to Tamale where they would serve the entire tenure of their mission. They were absolutely outstanding in every way. They ministered, they taught, they encouraged, they helped the missionaries, and served in every way imaginable. We will miss their interactions with the missionaries, the district presidency and the other district and branch leaders.

Monday evening at 8:30 pm, we held the MLC meeting over Zoom. I am really loving these weekly meetings with the MLC and should have started doing this a long time ago. Right now we continue to be focused on three things: 1) weekly calls with the district leaders of each zone with their respective zone leaders. We are now asking the zone leaders to invite the sister training leaders as well (they cover multiple zones so they could only attend every other week). 2) Speaking with our bishops and branch presidents about callings for the recent converts. 3) Setting a goal to find one serious person every single day. As some of the companionships have started to do these things, they are seeing some really great results. We are excited to see the long term impact of being more aware of finding someone serious each day.

On Tuesday, we attended the Nkoransa District Council where Elder Page is the new District Leader. He did a great job leading the district and working through our first ever review of the second edition of Preach My Gospel. The first chapter to review was of course, Chapter 1. It was a good review and out of it we learned some things so we sent out instructions to the entire mission. We had provided instructions for the District Leaders, but the rest of the missionaries did not know what was expected. Here are the instructions we sent after we returned home:

“For the next 12 weeks, we would like you to spend your personal study time in the mornings each day to read and study the new PMG. This includes identifying at least one highlight that you choose under each sub-section that you can share when called on in district council. This will ensure at least some discussion on each first level sub-section. For companionship study, we now want you to spend that time discussing the “Consider This” questions. (The District Leaders will provide instruction to you separately on Chapter 3 since it does not have. “Consider This Questions” and is 75 pages in length). The “Consider This” questions refer to the content in the chapter, so to discuss them you will need to refer to the chapter content. This will prepare the districts for more robust discussions about these discussions as you will have already discussed them and collected insights to bring.”

Afterwards, we came back home, ate some lunch and then logged onto the new leader training meeting conducted by the Assistants. Every transfer we do a 60-90 minute training with all of the new District Leaders, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. The 12 points we teach continue to change slightly to accommodate some of the new things we are doing in the mission, but they essentially are the same set of proven leadership skills.

After the meeting, we took the Steinmetz’s to the airport (2:00 pm). While it was sad for us to see them leave, it was bittersweet for them. They were excited to see their family again, but sad to leave the amazing friends they had made in Tamale.

On Wednesday, we began the transfer interviews, driving first to Atafoa Chapel to interview the Atafoa District where Elder Edwards is the District Leader and then to the Suame District Center where we interviewed the Kronum and Suame Districts.

These missionaries are doing great and we are very proud of them. All of them are working hard and had great interviews. I love the scriptural insights they come with as they memorize a scripture on Christ and share it with me. It was an unusual weather day as it looked like it was going to rain as cold air blew in, but it only managed to sprinkle a small amount. The incoming breeze was cool enough however, to make me wish I had a jacket to put on! Not something that happens often here.

Wednesday evening I held my bi-weekly presidency meeting. I have asked my counselors to begin to join some of the missionaries in companionship study. In addition to the other matters we discussed, we talked at length about the state of the mission to provide some context for their upcoming companionship study discussions centered around Preach My Gospel, Second Edition.

On Thursday, we drove out to Effiduase and then back into Kwamo as we interviewed the first half of the University Zone. Once again we found the missionaries in good spirits, breaming with confidence, and joying in their successes without murmuring about their challenges.

On Friday, we drove to the University Stake Center and interviewed 10 more companionships in the University Zone. These interviews we equally inspiring. Unfortunately, we only managed to take a picture of the last companionship interviewed. Elder Mordey and Elder Kierstead. The others we interviewed that day were Sister Asantewaa and Sister Konoekor (Sister Training Leaders), Sister Whorway and Sister Mujinga, Elder Hoyt and Elder Andabo, Elder Vi and Elder Swaray.

We will now return to the theme of this blogpost. We all have potholes in our lives that we need to recognize, and then stop and repair. It is the very nature of mortality. We are sincerely grateful for our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who paid the price that we might have a means to repent and be perfected in Him. A way to symbolically “fill the potholes” in our lives. We love the work we are doing. We love these young missionaries we see becoming better disciples every day. We love the people of Ghana who have much to teach the world about what it means to have faith in God. And we love being a part of the Gathering of Israel one last time, Together in Ghana.