What a great week! Despite not having internet from Wednesday until Sunday (it is still a bit sketchy) due to the demise of four subsea cables, the week was wonderful. Somehow we managed to get through it. This past week we sent 8 missionaries home, received in 13 new ones from the MTC, held our face to face Mission Leadership Council and topped it all off with the creation of the new Kumasi Ejisu Stake. How great is that?

LaDawn and I attended all three main sessions of the conference. Leadership and Adult sessions on Saturday and the General Session where the business of the conference was conducted on Sunday. The new Ejisu stake will be led by Prosper Mensah, the former University Stake President. This man is a mover and a shaker and will really help the units assigned to the new stake. These units are: Mampong Ward and Agona Branch (from the Suame Stake), Asamang Branch (from the Dichemso Stake), and the following from the University Stake: Kwamo First Ward and Kwamo Second Ward, Effiduase Ward, Ejisu Ward, Seniagya Branch, Onwe Branch. In addition, there are three Groups: Daddease, Kubease, and Addokrum. Ejisu is the 144th stake in the Africa West Area. The University Stake will be led by Michael Nuamah who has been serving as the University Ward Bishop.

We also had in attendance a chief (I could never pronounce his name) and two Muslin leaders. These Muslim men came with a plea to help them spread the word that Muslims are not violent and want to be peacemakers. They have been so maligned by the media around the world that they are reaching out to the Church to help change the perception with which they have been saddled.

The messages of the conference were inspiring. Here are some of the key messages delivered by various speakers:

• A growing church requires a dedicated and testimony laden people.
• If you do not have a calling, see your bishop or branch president and ask for one.
• Put your shoulder to the wheel and push along!
• We need to diligently study the Book of Mormon and utilize more fully the Come Follow Me program.
• Relief Society and Elders Quorum Presidencies primary work is inviting others to come unto Christ and redeeming the dead through Temple and Family History work.
• Elder Nielsen told those in the leadership session that they are leaders in the most important time in all the world.
• There were 45 men sustained to the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Sunday Session.
• When we get a new calling, we should 1) Seek personal revelation. 2) Study the scriptures. 3) Heed the counsel of Latter-day prophets and apostles. 4) Study the General Handbook of Instruction.
• We are never alone in our callings.
• Membership in the Church is about obedience and humility. And learning our duty. This gospel is about 1:1 ministering.
• We have agency to choose contention or peace.
• The priesthood is meant to bless others, not ourselves.
• The most important calling we have is that of parents.
• What is to come is so much greater than what we have already experienced.
• Teach the youth how easy it is to become part of the Lord’s battalion.
• We should pray each day, “Heavenly Father, will you put me in the path of someone today that needs my help?”
• Kumasi is changing in a significant way (with the addition of a new stake).
• Jesus Christ is the great Prince of Peace.
• There is always change in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Men are to preside, provide, and protect.
• There is no way to find happiness if you are using technology in the wrong way.
• Elder Nielsen described the perfect day (D&C 50:24) as 3 Nephi 11 when Christ came to visit and the people gathered at the temple in Bountiful and became witnesses of His resurrection.
• When we lose hope, it is because we are looking in the wrong places.

After the Saturday Adult session we brought Elder Nielsen and Elder Oide back to the Lancaster Hotel. We then picked them back up at 5 pm and took them to Noble House along with Elder and Sister Pack and had a delicious meal.

On Sunday morning we picked Elder Nielsen and Elder Oide up at 8:30 am from the hotel and drove to the University Stake Center and enjoyed the spirit as the Ejisu Stake was created. After the meetings, we waited until Elder Nielsen and Elder Oide were finished with their training of the new presidencies and then we drove them to the airport and dropped them off at 2:00 pm. It was good to have the afternoon to finish the missionary letters as the week had been incredibly busy. Couple that with the internet issues and I was way behind on letters. I met in the evening with the Assistants. We had a wonderful discussion about how to make a step change in the presentation they made to the MLC on extending invitations. It was a revelatory meeting!

I will now go back to Monday, March 11th. Monday morning early, Elder Pack and I played golf. We had a couple of rains during the week and a pretty decent downpour on Sunday. The result was a beautiful green golf course on Monday morning on which to play. They are building a first class club house which you can see behind the two of us.

Monday night we held our regular MLC meeting. I love these meetings! We had three main topics: 1) How well we are doing on the 26 week study and improvement program. 2) Discussed the success of the Bibiani zone in having so many people on date when the month of March started and what things they were doing to have this success. 3) How to help encourage the missionaries to keep the schedule.

On Tuesday, we had a nice delicious dinner from Aboude’s at the Mission Home with the 8 missionaries departing. Following dinner, we had a round or two of Preach My Gospel Jeopardy and then spent 45 minutes discussing questions, giving important “life skill” counsel, and taking some pictures. We are grateful for these young missionaries who have grown so much over the course of their service.

Wednesday was a day of preparing for the MLC which was held on Friday. There were a number of other items we worked on during the day: “2023 State of the Mission” for the annual history; scheduling of Filipino Missionaries who are coming to the Kumasi Mission but have visa issues; preparing the agenda for our mission presidency meeting held later that evening; dealing with a belated confession of a missionary; and approving expense statements showing as being overdue (they were not). In reference to MLC preparation, I put together the vision refresh and the latest update on the key indicator performance for the month of February. I only realized on Friday that I forgot to update the zone conference schedule (which later changed). Oops.

On Thursday morning we were at the airport at 7:00 am to welcome 13 missionaries from the MTC in Accra. This is always a wonderful moment to see these missionaries come off of the plane and step into the real world of missionary work. As always, I take an opportunity to have a brief chat with them and encourage them to consider if there is anything in their lives that they need to speak to me about before getting out in the field. Since we have about 20-30 minutes to the Mission Office, it is an opportunity for them to ponder on what if anything has not been resolved.

Once back at the Mission Office, we start immediately into the orientation, going over the Mission Vision, schedule, transportation, and the rest of the Akwaaba (welcome) booklet. We stopped for lunch about 11:45 am and had pizza. I then began interviews of each of the missionaries, which took us up until about 4 pm. We gave the missionaries an opportunity to rest while waiting for their interview. They get up very early in the morning to come to Kumasi, so some rest helps them make it through the rest of day. By this point, the internet outage was in full swing and for our devotional about keys and bananas (obedience and integrity) I couldn’t pull the presentation out of the cloud. So we did it without any slides. It seemed to work okay. By 5:30 pm we were done and we had a delicious meal that Hannah had cooked just before 6 pm. We were on our way back to the Mission Home by 7 pm with the 4 sisters who stayed in our Mission Home bunkhouse.

Friday morning we started early with “train the trainers” since everyone was there before our 8:30 am planned start time. Still without internet, we managed to find versions of the 12-week training program and Finders of the Elect that were not the most recent, but close enough. Seems like a small thing to have files on OneDrive or Dropbox or iCloud – until there is no internet.

We then headed over to the transfer grounds where things were moving along nicely. Unfortunately, we had one suitcase that was sent to Sunyani that was supposed to stay here in Kumasi. Alex (mission driver) was able to fetch it on Saturday and bring it back to the missionary’s apartment. We would be lost without Alex!

As soon as the majority of missionaries were on their way, LaDawn and I left, stopping at ABC Mart on the way home for a few items that are best purchased at that particular grocery store. We made it home, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back over for the MLC meeting.

We started the meeting with a Vision Refresh, this focused purely on coming unto Jesus Christ. We could have easily spent the entire time on Omni 1:26, but at least it made it through the first 3 scriptures. Here are some of the questions we discussed:

• How do we partake of the power of His redemption?
• What does it mean to offer our whole souls unto Him as an offering?
• How can we meet these high expectations? What can I do today to move in that direction?
• What rest does Christ give?
• What does it mean to seek Christ diligently?
• What does it mean to knock?

The highlight of every MLC meeting is the instruction from the Assistants. While a great deal of effort goes into the content, we always learn so much from the MLC about how to improve the instruction for the zone conferences. This time was no exception. I am excited to see this develop further for our zone conferences next week.

We finished MLC shortly after 6 pm and then enjoy a nice dinner that Hannah had prepared. We finished dinner by 7:00 pm and made our way back home. Another full and rewarding day!

When we first arrived in Kumasi, within 3 months the Konongo Stake was formed. It is only fitting that within 3 months of leaving Kumasi, the Ejisu Stake was formed. It has been excellent leadership by Prosper Mensah and the tireless efforts of countless missionaries serving in these wards and branches that are now part of Ejisu Stake that made this possible. Forming a stake is a big deal. It strengthens the entire mission, and especially the Church in the Kumasi area. We are grateful to be a part of this gathering and growth – Together in Ghana.