On Sunday, we ended up at Behenase, which is a relatively new branch in the University Stake. It started as a Group as part of the Aputuogya Ward and then became a stand-alone branch. It started because of a one man church where the “pastor” discovered the church and loved it so much, he became a member and then did what he could to bring his entire congregation. It was not a big Church and not everyone came, but there were enough with some additional move-ins from Accra that a branch was able to be formed. We began the day looking for the two missionaries who serve three units: Atonsu, Behensase, and Aputuogua. The zone leaders told us they would be in Atonsu so we attended sacrament meeting there. But no missionaries. We then drove to their apartment. No missionaries. I texted the Aputuogya bishop and he said they were not there. I tried calling numerous times…no answer. We were starting to get concerned. Then a few minutes later, after we prayed, they returned our call and told us they were in Behenase. I won’t go into the details about why they were there and not in Atonsu. They sent us a pin and we drove the 23 minutes to the branch from their apartment. It is generally about 45 minutes away from the mission home, but in a direction we don’t often travel. The roads have been under construction since we arrived, but now it is paved almost the entire way to where one turns off to go to the new Branch. The map above shows the route from the Mission Home to Behenase. Atonsu and Aputuogya Wards are within 20 minutes of Behenase. When we arrived we had to call the missionaries to come out and find us on the road because the place they meet is tucked into a neighborhood. It was a vintage village meeting house. Just enough comfort to hold meetings, but nothing more.

They were having Sunday School when we came in and most of it was in Twi. It was great to see one of the University Stake’s high councilor’s in attendance. We were also surprised to see Edward Mordey. He was a missionary who served here and he helped start the Behenase Group. He didn’t hang around to talk after the meeting. I managed to interview the two elders and then we were on our way. We were grateful to be among these humble, yet spirit filled people.

Back now to Monday, January 15th. In the morning Elder Pack and I enjoyed a round of Golf. It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time getting some exercise and enjoying the camaraderie.

At 3:00 pm, I had a call with Aaron Allotey, our Southern Facilities Manager. The purpose of these calls is to talk about the facility needs, maintenance, land purchases, etc. for the Obuasi District as well as the Mission Home and the Mission Office. We are grateful for the work that Aaron does for us to enable the Church to grow and function as best as possible. At 4:00 pm, we had a Zoom call with the Boateng’s (our successors) and spent almost 2.5 hours talking about a long list of transition items. Our goal is to help them in every way possible to be prepared to come and take over the mission. We have both decided to meet every two weeks, with some emails and messages in between the calls, as a way to get them acclimated to the current ebb and flow of the mission. Monday evening, we held our weekly MLC Virtual Meeting. I continue to be so impressed with the Assistants who prepare and conduct the meeting as well as the efforts of each member of the MLC to participate in the meeting and continue to discover new ideas and ways to bring the gospel to more and more people here in the Kumasi Mission. The meeting on Monday was no exception.

Between the meeting with the Boateng’s and the MLC, I went over to the Mission Office and set apart Edmund Nartey from Obuasi 3rd Branch. He will be serving in the Nigeria Ibadan Mission.

On Tuesday, we drove out to Agona and attended the District Council where Elder Strother is the District Leader. I then interviewed the 6 missionaries who attend that district council.

From Agona, we drove Elder Sorvari and Elder Cooper back to their apartment in Asamang and then drove on to Effiduase where we interviewed the four missionaries who serve in Effiduase and Daddease.

Wednesday we made the trip to the Konongo zone, with stops in Nkawkaw and Konongo (Ahenabronum). Fourteen interviews in total. The interviews were generally good. We arrived back home around 4 pm.

On Thursday evening I held my bi-weekly presidency meeting with President Obeng (bottom right) and President Asante. These are wonderful men and I would be completely lost with them. I am also grateful for Elder Loveland who functions as our Executive Secretary and helps me keep on top of actions, commitments, and meetings.

On Thursday, we interviewed the office elders and Assistants. What should have been 1 hour ended up being 2.5 hours. Not because there was trouble, but because we had long conversations about their memorized scripture as well as my own. As much as I enjoy these long interviews with these stellar young men, I need to figure out how to keep consistent with the rest of the interviews across the mission.

The rest of the day I spent working on getting the Akwaaba Booklet updated so we can print it for the incoming missionaries. I updated the Toolbox with the Assistant’s instruction on “profiling for needs” as part of their “Art of Conversation” as well as change the “Finders of the Elect” to move from transfer goals to monthly goals. That then required a whole new repagination of the document which I do in a program called PDF Expert which I own on my personal laptop. I also made some changes to the 26 week study and improvement program, not in content, but in structure. We had way too many “checkboxes” for daily and weekly activities that missionaries should want to do rather than because they have to check a box. Finding the right balance between “detail-structured” and “principle-based” activities is important and challenging. I think initially we got it wrong and now it feels better to me. Here is a link to the revised program.

Friday was our trip to Obuasi. We decided to have everyone come into the District Center. President Tabi was kind enough to allow me to use his air conditioned office so that made the interviews just a bit sweeter. We did 14 interviews and phone checks starting at 10:00 am. We finished up just after 3 pm and made it home a few minutes before 5 pm. 

Elder Morgan who serves down in Dunkwa and is training Elder Madsen, received a package from his parents in Australia. He had asked them to send him a hat, but the look on his face when he saw the size of the package was priceless. I couldn’t help but snap a picture. I wonder what kind of goodies were inside???

Interviewing 14 missionaries back to back takes a lot of effort. I could tell towards the end that the scripture I had memorized which came so easily when we started at 10:00 am, began to be a bit more difficult to recite as the day went on. 😉 These are good missionaries and I was grateful for the time I was able to spend with them. We always hope they feel the same.

Saturday was a bit of a blur. I spent most of the day working on reading and responding to the weekly letters from the missionaries and LaDawn spent much of the day working on last year’s mission history as well as cleaning of the Mission Home. I also put together the letter to the missionaries that I send out every Sunday evening. This week it was titled, “Seven“. It took me much longer to pull it together than I had hoped, but I was grateful for the result. I continue to be amazed how it is I start with only a phrase or idea that I gleaned from my scripture study during the week and then to watch it unfold into something that amazes me. It is clear that this is not our work, but His.

Next week we move into the 7th week of the transfer. While they are generally only 6 weeks in length, from time to time a transfer gets squeezed into 5 weeks (in this case it was the Christmas travel blackout dates) and then the next transfer gives us the week back. We are looking forward to some time to catch up on tasks that have fallen behind, get some exercise in the mornings, and be a bit more proactive rather than reactive. We continue to be grateful for this great cause in which we are engaged to gather Israel one last time, Together in Ghana.