On March 9th – 10th, we held the semi-annual district conference of the Obuasi district. Elder Raymond Egbo was to be the presiding Area Seventy, but he was in Copenhagen for a meeting (he is the area S&I coordinator) and his plane was cancelled and he could not get back for the conference. Elder Nielsen (Area President) gave me the option of presiding or having another Area Seventy fill in. Since it would be our last conference with Obuasi, I wanted to preside at the conference. I had a number of items I wanted to talk about and training that needed to be delivered. I just want to say that the conference turned out to be one of the best we have experienced. Since I learned of this change on Friday and the conference started the next day, there was total dependence on heavenly help. As I sought direction, clear themes emerged:

• Faith in Jesus Christ
• Paying more attention to the Youth
• Covenants
• Repentance / Pride
• Tithing

On Sunday morning, I added two more items to the list

• The power of Godliness
• Yielding our hearts to God

Below is the summary of the overall conference topics with a brief description. I will elaborate a bit more on the Sunday adult session discussion on how godliness is manifest in the ordinances after the summary.

Leadership Session: – Gathering Israel on both sides of the veil.  Are we waiting for the second coming or are we acting?  How you live the gospel reflects your conversion. – Temple and Family History work.  Temples are essential to the sanctification of our hearts – Love one another. If we only love those who love us, what good is that to us?  We are the light of the world and we show that light through the love we have for one anotherTithing: God gave us tithing to test us.  Do we love God or the world more?  – Tithing allows the Lord to see where our heart is.  Do we trust in God’s promises in 2 Chronicles 31:10?  Paying our tithes and offerings will fill our storehouse. – Faith in Christ.  Ahaz vs. Hezekiah.  Do we trust in the arm of flesh or in the arm of God? – Youth.  Invitation for every branch to hold a branch youth council in the next 3 weeks. – Ministering: Every branch council to meet next week and select at least 5 names and identify their next ordinance and then go bring them back and help them receive their ordinance. Sunday General Session: – 8 Prospective elders advanced – All is not well. Is all well in our lives and in our relationship with our Savior.  Do we think we can fix things ourselves by waiting and waiting to change?  If we believe in Christ, we will labor while it is called today. Leaders need to be in the homes of the members. We cannot have lapses in our attention to the work of salvation.  We must stay alert and focused on our goal. – Missionary preparation.  Individually, branch and district leadership, and parents in the home.  All must be more focused on helping to prepare our young men especially to serve missions. – Temple youth baptisms.  Help us to become more like Jesus Christ. – Jesus Christ is the strength of families. – Stand as a witness for Christ.  We are only as strong as we are honest. – The importance of developing the attributes of Christ.  If we have not charity, we are nothing. – We need more focus on the youth.  Branch Youth Councils, youth interviews with the branch presidents, engaging them in the work of salvation.  Allowing them to teach each other in their classes – Yielding our hearts to God.  When we yield our hearts to God, we keep our commitments, we stand as witnesses of Christ, we become like Him through taking on His attributes. Sunday Adult Session: – We must be disciples of Jesus Christ.  We must keep out focus on the young single adults. – Parents are responsible to strengthen the youth in their families. – Raising a generation of well-prepared missionaries. – We must be true disciples of Jesus Christ.  This means no contention in our families and branches – In the ordinances of the priesthood, godliness is manifest.  Baptism, Holy Ghost, Priesthood, Endowment, Sealing.  All of these are remembered and renewed each week when we partake of the sacrament and again covenant to keep His commandments, always remember Him, and be willing to take His name upon us.  Examples of godliness in each of the covenants mentioned were discussed, including the 5 we make in the endowment.

Because of my recent experience with Elder Bednar, Elder Kearon, and Elder Godoy, several of these topics listed above have been on my mind. I knew I had a responsibility to teach what I had been taught and then to fill in with inspired counsel meant specifically for Obuasi. As it turned out, I had very little opportunity to speak about Repentance (it was at the heart of my comments in our Obuasi fall conference), and I spent little time talking about priesthood keys. But the other three topics taught at the Area Instruction Meeting played a prominent role: Youth, Ordinances and Covenants, and the Simplicity of the Gospel. And we spent a lot of time talking about tithing and how it is a test for us to see if we love God more than we love the world.

On Sunday morning, I had a few minutes and found a talk by Dr. Anthony Sweat, a BYU professor with inspiring insights and committed discipleship. The full article titled “Saving Ordinances, the Covenant Path, and the Power of Godliness” written by David Snell which includes quotes from Anthony Sweat can be found here. I have included the quote from Dr. Sweat below:

One of the special blessings of my life is that I have full access to all my wife’s gifts and abilities and resources—her knowledge, wisdom, talents, strength, goodness, and just down-right cute-ness. Why am I so fortunate to have all of Cindy Sweat’s resources at my fingertips? Well, because I married her. I gave my life to her, she gave her life to me, and we became one—The SWEATS (Man, what a name. Love ya, forefathers). It’s the marriage ordinance that connects me to her and her to me and gives us full access to what each other can offer the other.

Now, why am I telling you this about marriage? Let me explain with a verse from the Doctrine and Covenants 88:20. ‘Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.’ In other words, gospel ordinances give us access to God’s power in our lives and help us become more like Him. Just like how a person gains full access to their spouse’s gifts, abilities, and powers through the ordinance of matrimony, we gain access to God’s gifts, abilities, and powers through the ordinances of the gospel.

Dr. Sweat then lists the five saving ordinances and associated scripture references to connect to the power of godliness that is reflected in each of the ordinances.

• Baptism (sacrament): The purity or cleanliness of God (see Moroni 6:4)
• Holy Ghost: The will of God—His mind and heart (see D&C 8:2-3; 68:4; 97:1)
• Priesthood: The authority and power of God (see D&C 121:36)
• Temple endowment: The knowledge of God (see D&C 95:8; 105:11)
• Temple sealing: The eternal increase of God (see D&C 131:1-4; D&C 132:21-22)

Now, I read all of those references, and they were good, but I was worried because for me they didn’t really explain the powers of godliness – at least not as I had hoped. I knew if I did not understand them well enough to explain them in a way others could understand, then it would be worse than avoiding the topic altogether. As the time arrived in the conference where the meeting was turned over to me, I felt a pressing need to have this discussion, even though I wasn’t clear on what I might say to make it clear. And then as I began, I felt the power of the Holy Ghost provide insight and instruction that was both simple and inspiring.

As we discussed each one of the ordinances, we talked about how the power of godliness had been manifest in THEIR lives. For example, nearly everyone in attendance was a convert. They could easily identify how their lives had changed when they were baptized. How they had the strength to overcome problems that plagued them before baptism. They saw their degree of happiness increase and miracles begin to occur in their lives. And in that moment, we ALL understood how the power of godliness was manifest in baptism. We did the same with receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This one was easy because they had all had experiences with the Holy Ghost (and they were having one right then). I referenced President Tabi, who already knew I would be presiding before I called to tell him Elder Egbo wouldn’t be able to come. He said he was practicing conducting the Sunday session and going over the name of the presiding officer on Friday morning, and as he did so, the spirit whispered that it would be “President Kunz” presiding. That is a manifestation of godliness because in that moment the Holy Ghost revealed to him what would happen the very next day. We talked about priesthood ordination, and the power they had all felt when either giving or receiving a priesthood blessing. We talked about the ability to get up and conduct a sacrament meeting by the Spirit of the Lord with confidence and clarity. We talked about inspired decisions of priesthood leaders and their ability to know the counsel that could help a struggling member. All evidences of the power of godliness. We then moved to the endowment. We talked about the five covenants we make in the endowment: Obedience, Sacrifice, Law of the Gospel, Law of Chastity, Law of Consecration. We talked through each one and how making that covenant had protected them and helped them to have joy and peace. We talked about the blessings of sacrificing our time to serve God, about living the higher law of the gospel (Love God, Love Neighbor), we talked about the protections of living the Law of Chastity, and the power of laying our wills on the altar and giving everything we have, and are, to God. All manifestations of godliness in our lives. And finally we talked about the sealing ordinance and how the covenant we each make with God in that ordinance draws us nearer to Him and then naturally draws us closer together as husband and wife (reference Elder Bednar’s relationship triangle) and the video that shows how it works. We talked about how that sealing ordinance and the covenant we makes gives us the strength to work through challenges and difficulties as couples knowing that divorce is not an alternative. Another evidence of godliness in our lives. And without these ordinances? Doctrine and Covenants 84:21 says it best, “And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh”

To close out the discussion, I showed them a picture of the Kirtland Temple sacrament table. We talked about why it is in the form of a yoke, and what that means referencing Matthew 11:28-30. We discussed how we recommit to take Christ’s yoke upon us every week when we come to the sacrament table, by renewing the covenants we made when we received these 5 saving ordinances, as well as committing THAT week to keep His commandments, always remember Him, and be willing to take His name upon us. It is the sacrament that really helps us, week after week, to recommit our lives so that the power of godliness can be manifest in the coming week. Such a marvelous discussion! I as so grateful that the power of godliness was manifest in real time to the entire congregation in the moment.

I want to add one more thing about the conference. Towards the end of the General Session around 11:30 am, the power went out. Turns out there was an electrical short at the pole on the street and the line bringing electricity into the District Center fell to the ground. The clerk went out to start the generator, but it would overheat within 3 minutes and shutdown. After 3-5 minutes, it could then be started again and cycle repeated itself. We have solar at the district center, but that too was not working. So for my talk, the power came and went, as did my voice, as I tried to speak loud enough to be heard by 413 people. In the adult session that started at 12:30 pm, we only had power a few times for 3 minutes. By 1:20 pm, we had sung the intermediate hymn and it was my turn. The power was out nearly the entire time. I wanted to show a slide of the Kirtland Temple sacrament table, but instead I walked it around to the 110 people in attendance. It was hot in the chapel with no fans blowing. Children waiting for their parents made plenty of noise outside. Music started up across the street as well, making it nearly impossible to speak over it all. And yet, the Spirit of the Lord rested on the congregation and all of that faded away as we spoke about the power of Godliness being manifest through the ordinances of the Gospel. It is a conference we will never forget!

Back to Monday, March 4th. We played basketball in the morning. Right now I am in a rhythm of basketball one week and golf the next. I loved Elder Pack’s quotable quote, “Don’t you wish every day was every other Monday?” That is in reference to playing more golf in the early mornings. 😊

On Tuesday, we attended the Abuakwa District Council where Elder Clariz is the District Leader. He did a nice job. We had a good discussion on the topic of “Jesus Christ, mission of”. My favorite question that we discussed was, “What are the stripes?”. This is in reference to Isaiah 53:5 (Mosiah 14:5). Seems like a simple question, but there is so much in that simple word.

While there, we interviewed the 6 missionaries.

Tuesday early evening at 4 pm, we attended audit training with the Hobdy’s (Senior Couple) and Brother Mobio who supervises the men called AAA’s (Triple’s A’s or Assistant Area Auditors). He explained that his role is like a “super AAA” or maybe an “AA2”. For brother Mobio, he lives in Cape Coast and this is part of his calling. He is an impressive man. The Hobdy’s walked us through a number of presentations and what was most helpful was going to the Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) website to see and understand the access we have to the monthly financial statements in the units. We finished right before 7 pm and I think it was a valuable meeting for us. President Obeng, President Asante, and Brother Eugene Ghorman (mission clerk) all attended.

On Wednesday, we interviewed the last four missionaries for the transfer. The Assistants and Office Elders. These are great missionaries who do so much to help the mission run smoothly. I am forever grateful to them for their commitment to their Savior and to the Mission.

Following the interviews with the missionaries, Gladys and Augustine returned for a 1 pm appointment to do our “Mission History” interview again. The first time they did it with me, and I suggested that they include LaDawn. They assured me the interview only included me. But when they submitted it to the Area, the question arose, “Where is Sister Kunz?” So they came back and we did it over again…. this time together. They said it was a different interview with different questions, but in reality it was the same.

For the sake of posterity, I have uploaded the 90 minutes from the first interview with just me. It is broken into three files of 30 minutes each. So far, we have not received a copy of from the second interview where we are together.

As we finished the interview, we had another meeting waiting in the wings. President Mensah from the University Stake was shepherding a group from Utah representing a company called Bloom. Bloom is working to create jobs in countries were unemployment keeps many returned missionaries from marrying and raising a family. They have an impressive business model and solid track record. Coming along with the Bloom team was Victor Ukorebi from BYU Pathway. He has been leading an effort to recommend the best and brightest BYU Pathway “graduates” to Bloom. Eric Engebretsen and John Pearce are the co-founders of the company and wanted to make a short visit to get connected with the mission president in Kumasi as they are looking to create an office here for the young single adult missionaries who return to Kumasi. As a Stake President, Prosper Mensah is trying to help bring jobs to his young single adults. Joining Eric (in the blue shirt over the t-shirt), was John Pearce (white shirt), Shane Ralph (holding the phone for the picture), and James Gilbert (light yellow shirt).

After that meeting, we then took Elder Josiah (from Botswana) whose mission was complete to dinner at Aboude’s as his farewell. He is going a week earlier than transfers so he can start school on March 11th.

On Thursday, I met for a couple of hours with Jude Jonfiah, our Mission Facilities Manager and we talked about his 2024 goals. For me, I asked him to create standards of excellence relating to apartment repairs, regional price lists on our top 10 maintenance items, keeping IMOS current with apartment information including leases (max 2 year), apartment inspections, and the timely processing and approval of invoices. We spent two hours together.

At 2 pm, we held the regular Couple Council zoom meeting. Such a great opportunity to be together and discuss what we are learning and counseling together about how to further improve the Ghana Kumasi Mission. Here is the agenda:

Opening Prayer: Elder Loveland State of the Mission – Kunz’s Personal Insights from Recent Scripture Studies May Couples retreat – LaDawn – Apartment inspections and maintenance – Elder Loveland – Status of increasing family history work – Status of priesthood leadership training – Experiences at district council regarding the instruction on scriptures on Christ Closing Prayer: Sister Samuelson

The rest of the day I worked on the transfer board, as we have transfers coming up this next week. We have 9 going home (counting Elder Josiah) and 13 coming. That will put us at 170 missionaries. Thursday evening at 8:30 pm, the Assistants came by and we went over the board together making a few more changes and improvements. Our goal is to only do the Lord’s will with the placement of each missionary. He is ever so generous with the inspiration, as we understand that revelation is scattered.

Friday was a good day as we had plenty of time to get caught up and prepare for the upcoming zone conferences. I was even able to get the weekly letter to the missionaries done a day early. I continued to work on and review the transfer board. Because of the change on the Obuasi conference, I also needed to redo the agenda’s and make sure everyone was on board with the changes. In the evening we joined the other couples for “date night” at Piri Piri.

It is so obvious that this work is the Lord’s work. We are merely paintbrushes in his hand as He, as the artist, continues to create a masterpiece in Ghana. With all the trouble we had in Obuasi this past weekend with last minute changes and then electrical problems on Sunday, it just reaffirmed that no unhallowed hand can stop this work. Electricity may fail, flights may be canceled, the temperatures may soar, and the noise of the world may increase, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done! This is our experience and our testimony as we gather Israel, one last time, Together in Ghana.