It has been a very busy two weeks, so much so that this post will cover both weeks, starting with November 20th and ending December 2nd. During that time, we held all 5 of our zone conferences, participated in the Bibiani District conference, celebrated Thanksgiving, welcomed another new missionary, and attended the West Africa Area kickoff for the 2023 Light the World campaign which was held in Tamale.

On Monday, November 20th, we held interviews for the 10 of the 12 companionships in the Bibiani Zone at the Mission Office. They came a bit earlier on Monday so that we could do the interviews prior to their zone conference on Tuesday morning. We didn’t snap any pictures of the companionships since we were going to be with them the next day. In retrospect, I wish we had of.

Over the period of November 21 – December 1, we held the 5 zone conferences. The three in the South were the first week and the two in the North were the second week. Here are the group pictures from each zone conference.

The conferences all followed the same format:

• Birthdays
• Health and Safety
• Vision Refresh (Baptism)
• State of the Mission including number of baptisms and performance charts from the September transfer
• Christmas skits / songs by each zone
• Games (True / False, Shoe Game, Animal Game). In a couple of conferences we added a game of “Name that Christmas Song” and in Tamale we played “Guess the Phrase” (with one word clues).
• One Minute Drills
• Lunch
• Testimonies of departing missionaries
• Assistants Instruction on “The Lord’s Goalkeeper” (Goal setting and Planning)
• The “Condescension of God” from President Kunz
• “Gratitude” from Sister Kunz

Here are some of the pictures from the skits, acts, songs of the zones ….

And it wouldn’t be Christmas zone conferences without some additional fun and games. Here are pictures from the conferences….

At the end of each conference LaDawn gave the closing instruction on Gratitude, as mentioned above. At the end of her session, I joined her for a few moments and expressed my gratitude for her to the missionaries. Many of these missionaries do not have loving parents as role models. It brings us joy to see them realize that they want to have the kind of relationship that we have. Two sister companionships snapped a picture at different conferences and sent them us. I include one here. There is such great joy in an eternal marriage where we are both seeking for the same goal to be worthy disciples of Jesus Christ. I am very grateful to have a wife that sets that kind of example for me and for the entire mission.

Here are a few additional pictures from the zone conferences, primarily instruction from LaDawn and the Assistant’s.

In each of the conferences as part of the Assistant’s instruction, we did a role play on how to use the goal setting process to set goals and achieve them. It was really well done. Here are the slides we used for the role plays and some pictures of the missionaries “learning by doing”.

In the middle of the two weeks of zone conference, Thanksgiving Day showed up. We invited the Loveland’s, the Pack’s, and the Samuelson’s to the Mission Home for Thanksgiving Dinner. Chicken rather than turkey. No cranberries. And no football games. But we had a delicious meal together (including sweet potatoes, stuffing, and fresh baked rolls) and topped it off with pumpkin and apple pie. We have so much to be grateful for! Working with such consecrated senior couples is just one of the many things for which we gave thanks this year.

We also participated in the Bibiani District Conference November 25th and 26th. Elder Kofi Sosu, our Area Authority Seventy traveled with us to Bibiani where we stayed at the AduAddai hotel rather than drive back and forth. They have the new building where the rooms are new and the a/c works really well. The rooms are too small for the beds and the chair, but still, it was nice and sure beat adding on 4 hours of roundtrip driving. On Saturday we held the Leadership Meeting. President Ernest Abekyi spoke about Ministering and how it is an important part of God’s Plan. LaDawn spoke about fulfilling callings and serving with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. She also spoke of her dad and the power of a righteous father and his covenant to God. I spoke about the power of righteous parents first and then added some additional comments about the importance of making sure new converts receive church callings. I spoke briefly about Moses and Jethro and the importance of leaders “sharing the load”. Elder Sosu took the remainder of the time talking about 1) The purpose of callings. 2) Why we have meetings (to gather scattered revelation) and the importance of doing work outside of the meetings to resolve the issues discussed. 3). The importance of the branch mission plan and the keys held by the branch president for missionary work. 4) The importance and power of prayer and fasting referencing D&C 65.

On Sunday, we again met in the auditorium of the Bibiani Senior High School. This is actually a quite nice facility. We held both the general and adult sessions on Sunday. We also held a youth testimony meeting during the Adult session. The school was kind enough to allow us to use their computer lab for the testimony meeting. President Edmund Obeng, my first counselor, conducted the meeting while the District Presidency, Elder Sosu, and LaDawn and I attended the adult session.

Themes for the general session: The Plan of Salvation and Atonement of Jesus Christ as its centerpiece. (President Ewusie). Youth speakers covered the righteous use of technology and preparing to serve missions. Sister Pratt spoke about serving others through ministering and President Edmund Obeng spoke about receiving blessings. A quote I really loved, “For every blessing we receive there is a price that we must pay”. He then asked the question, “Are we are willing to pay the price?” LaDawn spoke about staying between the lines and I spoke about Repentance (my new favorite topic). Elder Sosu talked about the need for the righteousness of God becoming our righteousness. He shared a story about his wife being pregnant with their first child and because of fibroid tumors, the doctor told her to abort the baby. She would not do it. They went on to have 5 children to the amazement of the doctor, family, and friends.

In the afternoon session, President Francis Arthur (1st Counselor in District Presidency) spoke about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it is the source and bedrock of repentance. There were then talks on the sacrament and loving one another by Br. & Sister Osei (it is unclear to me if they were married or from different families). LaDawn talked about spiritual preparation asking, “Are we doing all we can do to prepare for the Savior’s Second Coming?”. I then spoke about Justification and Sanctification. Elder Sosu spoke on the parable of the laborers and made this important statement, “When we think upon the things of the world, we squeeze out space for the things of God. If we are not choosing the things of God, we are choosing the things of the world.” He referenced Lot’s wife in Genesis 19.

On Saturday when coming back to the Hotel after visiting the home we are renting for Elder & Sister Kirk, we stopped by and snapped a picture of the land for the new District Center which will start construction early next year in Bibiani. They have completed the walls around the entire site and it is looking really good. It will be even better when there is a building on it next year.

And speaking of the apartment where the Kirk’s will be living, It is located behind the homes that are setup for the leadership of the Bibiani Gold Mine. It is a nice area. There is still a ton of work to do though and we now have less than 2 weeks to get it finished. Jude promises us that it will be done.

Overall it was an excellent conference. We brought Elder Sosu back with us and dropped him near his junction and then arrived back home around 5:00 pm.

We should also mention that on November 22nd around 8 pm, Elder Stormont arrived from New Zealand. He arrived earlier in the day to Accra and did the paperwork and medicals for his resident visa and then came late in the evening. His new companion and trainer, Elder Rawson, came to the Mission Office on Thursday morning (it was Thanksgiving and the day that we break after the first two conferences and before the third) and we went through the orientation to the mission with him. We finished up just after 1 pm. We provided them money to go to Aboude’s for lunch since we were unable to have a welcome meal for him. We think they both appreciated it. One of our challenges is that when missionaries come from MTC’s other than Ghana (Philippines, Provo, New Zealand) they come on days other than our transfer day. It creates a ton of additional work for us and yet we try to just do the best we can.

Now to the headline of this post, Light the World – Tamale! A couple of months ago we received a call that the Light the World kickoff this year would be in Tamale. It just so happened that the kickoff was on a day that we would be there for our zone conference so that worked out extremely well. Elder Nielsen and Elder Kyungu made the flight from Accra to the new Tamale International Airport on Wednesday and between their arrival and departure on Thursday late afternoon did a ton to build goodwill between the Church and the entire region. On Thursday morning, they drove to Yendi, a drive of about 75 minutes to the east of Tamale where the Dogban King lives. Dogban is the predominant tribe in the region and their language is Dogbani. Interestingly enough, most people speak English, yet much of the Light the World ceremony was in Dogbani. In any case, there was a flurry of activity for a few days in Tamale involving our senior couple Elder and Sister Ray, as well as the missionaries who serve in Tamale. Loading 800 bags with foodstuffs is quite the task. Handing it out was an additional effort that required coordination. The police were on hand to make sure everyone remained orderly, which they did. Sometimes when people hear there is free food, it can get out of the control quickly, but the people receiving the food were extremely grateful and the event was amazing. We even had some traditional dancers that did a very nice job of entertainment. Here are some pictures from the event.

A couple of other items to mention. We were grateful to be able to celebrate Sister Ray’s 70th birthday while in Tamale. She was kind enough to make a delicious meal of sweet and sour pork (made with chicken) over rice. She also made some amazing bread rolls and an award winning oatmeal birthday cake. It was unfortunate that she did all that work for the rest of us on HER birthday, but we were grateful for the amazing food and the wonderful fellowship with the Ray’s and the Loveland’s. The Ray’s are doing some great work in Tamale District!

On Wednesday, November 29th we left Sunyani early in order to make it to Techiman for interviews which started at 8:00 am. It takes us between 1.5 and 2.0 hours to travel the 62 km (40 miles) between the two cities – mostly because the road is so poor. As we left out of Sunyani, LaDawn snapped a picture of the mixture of fog and dust and early morning sun hovering over the outskirts of the city.

We stayed at the Tyco Hotel again in Sunyani along with the Loveland’s. We had gone up on Monday the 27th and stayed 3 nights. That bed was really, really hard. The food at the Tyco is good and the rooms are reasonable in terms of price, which is why we continue to stay there, even if the beds are hard. On Tuesday night, Elder Loveland asked about the banana split that they have on the menu. We have made this a running joke all the way back to when the Moomey’s were here. Well, on Tuesday, they delivered. The ice cream wasn’t great and they had to go find some bananas, but they delivered an authentic banana split. Bringing it out during the meal rather than at the end is an indicator that they don’t sell many desserts in that restaurant!

We did a LOT of interviews over the last two weeks (50 to be exact), but rather than include the pictures of the companionships here, we will just post them to the Mission Facebook page. This post is long enough already!

Our Christmas zone conferences are always a lot of fun as well as intentionally focused on the themes of the Christmas season. This year, doing them the last two weeks of November was not ideal, but with the December transfer being on the 14th, we didn’t have enough time to get them done completely in December and doing them after transfers was not really an option either. But regardless of the timing, the chance to be together and discuss doctrine, learn and increase our competencies, and enjoy some Christmas fun and games, made for a wonderful two weeks.

I want to add one more story about a personal tender mercy. After the Dichemso / Suame conference, I realized after we returned home that I had left my notebook at the Dichemso Stake Center. I had just started a new one right before going to Nigeria for the Mission Leaders Seminar and while it had only been a couple of months, I had some important notes in it. I called the zone leaders who live close to the chapel, but they were already on an exchange with the Assistants. I called the stake president and he sent the Bishop over to check, but he couldn’t find it. When the zone leaders got home, they went over and looked and could not find it either. I was beginning to think it was lost forever. As each day passed, I realized how much I needed some recent study notes I had written in that notebook as I was preparing the weekly letter to the missionaries. As I prayed one morning, I pleaded with Heavenly Father. I told Him that I knew that He knew where it was and if it might be possible, I would ask that He direct an angel to pick that notebook up and put it someplace that it could be found and returned to me. I repeated the prayer over several days. I really wanted (and needed) that notebook. And then on December 1st, while we were at the Tamale zone conference, a miracle happened. I received a note from Sister Pack, our Mission Secretary. “President Kunz, Alex [mission driver] gave me a journal of yours. I will set it on your desk.” She included the picture I have posted here. I immediately whispered a prayer of gratitude and repeated it over the next several days. I was looking forward to hearing the story the next time I saw Alex. That happened on Tuesday of this week as we were at the Mission Office for interviews and the Daban District Council. I asked him where he got the notebook. I was surprised when he looked at me puzzled and indicated he did not know what I was talking about. He had apparently brought in some things to Sister Pack which he said was from the couple’s apartment (I should have asked for clarification). He said the notebook must have been with those things. He had no idea it was mine. It was Sister Pack who identified it, as I did not even have my name written in it. The point is, that notebook coming back to me was a miracle. No one seems to know where it came from. I spoke to the Dichemso zone leaders again this week to see if they knew anything about it and they immediately apologized that they could not find it before I explained that it had been found. I truly believe that my prayer was answered in a literal and profound way. Our God is a God of miracles. Something I say often to missionaries who are discouraged. I have known this for a very long time, and this past week, it was again reinforced to me that if it is important to us, it is important to Him.

We are grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, who truly is the Light of the World. We rejoice in His goodness, light and power as we witness His hand in the gathering of Israel one last time, Together in Ghana.