This post covers the period of March 25 – March 31, 2024. The title of this week’s blogpost follows the topic of last week’s letter to the missionaries. In the April 1972 General Conference, then Elder Thomas S. Monson, gave a landmark talk titled “Finishers Wanted“. An excellent talk worth revisiting. In April 1991, Elder Neal A. Maxwell spoke on the topic “Lest Ye Be Weary and Faint in Your Minds“, another excellent talk that goes really well with Elder Monson’s address. But it was neither of these talks that drew me to the subject for the letter. It was the Easter Week Study in Gospel Library on “Trial, Crucifixion, and Burial” that got me thinking about the topic. The scripture is in John 19:30. “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” As I began my study, I found the two talks mentioned above and began to weave a storyline for the missionaries in the Ghana Kumasi Mission. If you are interested, you can read the letter here.

I think my favorite line in the letter, which came from Elder Maxwell, is this, “We plead for exemption more than we do for sanctification.” The other line I love, of which I do not know the source is a companion statement, “Make my life comfortable rather than make my life holy.” To be a finisher, we have to stop seeking our own will over that of the Father’s. We need more finishers, men and women who know why they have come to earth, and who work through the hard times and struggles, to be considered a finisher. I didn’t use the scripture from Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, but it fits in well here: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith“. Is that not the goal we all should have?

Monday (March 25th) started off with a round of golf with Elder Pack and ended with another wonderful virtual MLC Meeting.

I want to highlight the tree above with the bright red flowers. It is called a Flamboyant Tree. It’s scientific name is Defonix regia and because of it’s bright red flowers, it is sometimes called “flame tree”. The reason I want to highlight it is because of a poem that Kevin Ball sent me the day before written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” When I saw this tree, it was so fitting and a perfect match to the poem.

On Monday afternoon we also held our regular Mission Health Council Meeting. We are so grateful for the team in Accra and in the US (Elder Shane) that helps us so much with medical needs and for Sister Loveland who is on the ground here in Kumasi dealing with the day to day aches and pains.

Here is the agenda for our Monday night MLC meeting

1. Setting English as the language for people we are teaching: Our reports show that 96% of converts have English as their preferred language. Why are we struggling to enter the language properly into the PMG app?
2. PMG App Data: How comfortable are you that all of the data has been updated from two weeks ago when the network was down?
3. Easter Study Week Plan: We would like you to follow up with your missionaries about the Holy Week Study. What can you do to reinforce it with your missionaries?
4. Transitioning to Monthly Goals: Daily Note to the Mission We will be asking you, the MLC, to send out a message on WhatsApp to the mission every day from Tuesday, March 26th to Friday, April 12th. We have included an example of how we want you to structure it. We want you to take the topic and create an explanation elaborating on your topic. It should be accompanied by an additional post with a scripture or a quote that supports your explanation of the topic. We will assign topics and days to each of you, and we want the posts to be between 75-125 words and sent out before 8 am on the assigned day.
5. Spreadsheet Info: Konongo zone had 20 baptism the first two weeks of the month. What did you do to get people baptized early in the month? Are there other best practices for this?

It was another wonderful meeting as we discussed how the MLC can help the rest of the mission transition to monthly goals by sending out a daily message based on Elder Patterson’s excellent document coupled with the MLC discussion the prior week. These short messages have been inspiring and so well done. The other conversation was about the Church’s study plan for Holy Week. That too inspired those missionaries who took the time each day to learn about the last week of Christ’s life.

On Tuesday, our zone conferences began. We started with the Suame / Obuasi conference on Tuesday, the Konongo / University conference on Wednesday, and the Bantama / Bibiani conference on Friday. All three conferences followed the same format.

• Birthdays
• Health & Safety
• Discussion on the Scriptures on Christ (usually done in District Council)
• Vision Refresh (Following the Savior)
• Sister Training Leaders Instruction
• Assistant’s Instruction
• Lunch
• One Minute Drills
• Sister Kunz’s instruction
• President Kunz’s instruction

I will give a brief review of the key segments. For the discussion on the scriptures on Christ, these first three conferences covered the topic: “Jesus Christ, glory of”. Elder Togba Jr led the discussion and Elder Baldwin took copious notes. These were extremely insightful discussions at each of the three conferences. The model is that missionaries share their memorized scripture under the topic they have chosen and then ask an inspired question. These were amazing sessions that lasted only 30 minutes.

Following the discussion about the glory of Jesus Christ, we did a vision refresh, but this time it was focused solely on the Savior. It was a great transition as we first heard about the impact studying these topical guide scriptures on Christ are having on the missionaries. I wish we would have started studying these scriptures much sooner, because we can see their faith growing and their desire to know more about their Savior. These scriptures are a game changer. We then moved to discuss what it means to Come Unto Christ. We only used two scriptures: Omni 1:26 and D&C 88:63. Here are the key slides we shared.

At the end of the session, I asked the missionaries two questions:

• What will you do to offer your whole soul to the Savior?
• What will you do to seek Him more diligently?

Following the Vision refresh, the Sister Training Leaders provided a 30 minute instruction on a topic of choice out of Preach My Gospel. The three topics selected were: 1) Laboring Diligently. 2) My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures. 3) Unity with Members. All three were done well.

Following the Sisters’ instruction, the Assistants spent about 90 minutes teaching how to extend inspired invitations including a role play session where companions learned to plan for the invitation as well as know the associated blessings available to the person accepting and keeping their commitment to accept the invitation. This is not something we have been doing well. They called their instruction, “Feeding the Flame of Spiritual Momentum“. Here is the simple purpose of the instruction:

• Plan for the right invitation that is according to the level of faith of the individual
• Prepare for and teach the doctrine that underpins the invitation
• Make an inspired promise
• Bear a personal heartfelt testimony of the impact of keeping the invitation
• Follow-up to help support the individual in keeping the commitment

This instruction is a game changer. Often we extend invitations with no doctrinal basis or reason why the person should accept and keep the invitation. We hope this will begin to change the speed of progression of those who have been prepared by the Spirit to receive the restored Gospel.

LaDawn’s instruction was titled, “To Lie or Not to Lie“. This was a very straightforward discussion on the importance of always telling the truth. A number of missionaries mentioned to me how it was their favorite instruction of the conference. I think sometimes telling lies becomes second nature to young single adults who are afraid of the consequences of their actions. I think my favorite part was listening to Elder Faust tell the story of Bobby Polacio who climbed the rope on his second try and set a record, but didn’t actually touch the top board. Bobby refused to lie about it and when he made his third try he beat the old record by two-tenths of a second. Elder Faust does such a great job retelling the story. LaDawn used M&M’s and two volunteers to come up and see if they could tell the difference in the taste of the different colored M&Ms. Her point being that a lie is a lie regardless of its size or color.

My instruction was a history lesson on “The House of Israel“. Based on the success of the instruction from Elder Klebingat when he came in 2021, I tried to replicate the history he shared and then added more on the scattering and gathering. I wanted the missionaries to have the context about the work they were doing. I really loved doing this particular instruction and the missionaries seemed to enjoy it as well.

At the end of each of the zone conferences, we took our traditional pictures and then, because of the discussion on the House of Israel, we did an “Hurrah for Israel” shout. I have included both the pictures and the shouts from the three zone conferences.

On Thursday, we received in a new missionary from DR Congo. Sister Ndinga Ngassaki arrived at 11:40 am at the airport. We had Alex (mission driver) get her companion to the Mission Office so that when we arrived she was already there. We had some pizza for lunch and then spent about 2.5 hours with both of them. Sister Ngassaki has been serving in the DR Congo for over a year. She was originally called to Kumasi, but when her passport came through, no one seemed to help her get to her original mission. Through a number of miraculous interventions she arrived in Kumasi less than a week after we found out her plight. Because of her service in DRC, she did not speak much English, which made the orientation go very slow. We paired her with Sister Lameko from Samoa who is such a wonderful, obedient, and patient sister. On Sunday at church, when invited, she bore her testimony in English! They will do well together.

As soon as we finished the training, we started the 12 interviews for the Bibiani Zone starting at 3:00 pm going until 7:00 pm.

I should also add that we sent a missionary out on Tuesday (March 26th) to the MTC. She came in on Monday night and I set her apart at the Mission Home. Here name is Augustina Akayane from the Obuasi 4th Branch and she will be serving in the DR Congo Kinshasa East Mission. She will be a great missionary! Because the Loveland’s work with the YSA in Obuasi, they joined us for the setting apart. It is unusual for a missionary from our member districts to go to any country other than Nigeria. Augustina was thrilled that she would be able to go to DR Congo and learn French.

By the time Saturday rolled around we were grateful for the chance to catch our breaths. It was a good email catch up day. I also had time to prepare the weekly letter. On Sunday we attended church at the Asokwa Ward where Sister Lameko and Sister Ngassaki are serving. It was a wonderful Easter based sacrament meeting. That evening I met with the Assistants where we planned for the Virtual MLC meeting and made a few changes to the instruction for zone conference on invitations.

Another great week comes to an end. We are grateful for the 170 missionaries we are currently working with who, day in and day out, hit the streets to share the most important message in the history of the world. We are grateful for their dedicated efforts and the opportunity to be with them in these zone conferences. Finishers truly are wanted and needed as we gather Israel, one last time, Together in Ghana.