Last week was filled with interviews Tuesday – Friday. Saturday was mostly a catch-up day and Sunday we traveled to Fiapre to dedicate the new chapel that was recently completed.

Monday morning Elder Pack and I played some golf. It was another beautiful morning. If there is a problem with the Royal Golf Club of Kumasi, it is that everything seems to be uphill. Now that of course cannot be true, but it sure feels that way. Maybe walking 18 holes takes more out of me than I want to believe. In any case, it was another great day of golf even if the scores did not reflect it (especially mine). Being out on the course with Elder Pack is always a treat (at least for me). Here is a picture of Elder Pack teeing off on the 16th hole.

Monday afternoon we met with the Boateng’s and we spoke for four hours over a zoom call. Prior to our meeting with them, we put together a video of the mission home so their son and daughter can see where they will be living. The focus of the meeting was putting together a firm calendar for President and Sister Boateng for the months of July and August. The first three weeks will be extremely busy for them as they will hold three zone conferences, do 180 interviews, meet all of the stake presidents, and then visit with each of the district presidents (and their wives where possible). It will keep them busy! LaDawn also put together a calendar for the six weeks following the July transfer to help them get their own feel for the flow of the transfer schedule, including the 5 regular zone conferences and the interviews throughout the weeks. The calendar will be a huge help to them so they can be as effective as possible as they transition to the new role. Unfortunately when I snapped a picture of our meeting with them, LaDawn had already stood up and half of her head is missing. I assure you she is fine. 😊. We have really come to love the Boateng’s. They are gracious, kind, and complete disciples of Jesus Christ. The Ghana Kumasi Mission is very fortunate to have them!

Monday night as usual we held our weekly MLC meeting. We had three simple agenda items.

• Baptizing those on date. What will you do as leaders to ensure that these people are baptized? What are best practices for baptizing those on date?
• Zone barriers and solutions: What are the best practices you used this past week to overcome your zone barrier?
• *Urgency* How can we (MLC) help our missionaries have more urgency and focus to achieve their goals?

While many missions struggle to find enough people to teach and baptize, that is not our problem. There are plenty of people who love God and want to know about Him. There are fewer who want to make the commitment to change and get on the covenant path, but for diligent and obedient missionaries, finding the elect is very doable. We have always been grateful to be sent to a mission, where we baptize more than two complete stakes every three years.

Tuesday we attended the Daban district council at the mission office. Immediately after the interviews, we traveled to the University Stake Center and interviewed Elder Dickson and Elder Fotu. After LaDawn had established the schedule, we changed the district configuration since we added four more elders to Daban. Everything worked out great. I did not take pictures of the Assistants (Elder Togba Jr and Elder Reynolds), the Office Elders (Elder Braithwaite and Elder Gerardo) and the new Aboabo Elders (Elder Kasozi and Elder Carinan – I had already interviewed these last two before they moved to Aboabo).

On Wednesday, we left the Mission home at 7:00 am and made our regular journey out to Nkawkaw, Juaso, and Konongo where we interviewed all 18 missionaries who serve in the Konongo zone. Actually we interviewed 17, because I had already interviewed Sister George before she moved there mid-transfer.

Wednesday night after returning, I held my bi-weekly presidency meeting. Some of our key topics: Branches holding Branch Youth Councils, the importance of tithing status when issuing temple recommends, growth plans – especially Techiman, family history, financial training, and getting the youth more involved in the work of salvation.

On Thursday, we traveled to the Bantama Stake Center and did 8 interviews for the missionaries who serve in the southern part of the Zone. That evening I did an interview over the phone with Elder Niacadie’ who is serving in Nkoransa 2 (Techiman Zone).

On Friday, we again left the mission home at 7:00 am and made our way to Dunkwa, Obuasi and Asonkore. There were 14 interviews that day.

For our Friday night date, we met the Pack’s at Aboude’s for dinner. I had their delicious barbecue burger and LaDawn had their tasty chicken shawarma plate. It was a delicious meal with wonderful friends as dinner companions.

On Saturday morning, I held an over the phone interview with Elder Eteru who is serving with Elder Niacadie’ in Nkoransa 2. I had been unable to interview them because of time and distance so I was happy to catch up with them in a rare “virtual” interview. Saturday was a catch-up day for us including running a few errands to pick up some food. Next week we are having a “couple’s retreat” for our senior couples and we needed a few items in preparation. I spent most of the late afternoon and evening hours preparing the weekly letter for the missionaries. I knew what the topic needed to be, but I struggled to get it to come together the way I had hoped. It took a lot longer than I had time for, but I felt so strongly about the subject matter that I stayed with it until it felt right. The topic? The Price and Blessings of Discipleship.

Sunday was another early morning for us. We arose very early and left the Mission Home at 6:00 am and traveled to the Fiapre Branch in Sunyani. It is 130 km from the mission home to the Fiapre Chapel. Early Sunday morning we made it in 2 hours 15 minutes. Early morning travel is always the best!

The Sacrament meeting was simple. We had the branch president, Felix Boakye; the district president, Kennedy Frimpong Amoah; and my second counselor, Joseph Asante all speak before I offered a few words prior to concluding with the dedicatory prayer. My topic was that of being a faithful tithe payer and opening the windows of heaven. We deprive ourselves of so much prosperity and success because we think we have to manage all of our money rather than allowing the Lord to manage just 10% of it. I am convinced that the law of tithing, if properly kept, would change Ghana more quickly than anything else we might do as members of His Church. President Boakye spoke on casting the beam out of our own eye. President Amoah spoke on how to be happy and grow in the church: obedience, learning, being actively engaged in a good cause. President Asante spoke about Naaman and his initial resistance to obeying Elisha’s invitation to dip in the Jordan River seven times and then his ultimate healing when he submitted to the prophet’s invitation. We ended up with 64 in attendance at the end of the sacraement meeting. As you can see from the pictures below, this chapel is almost identical to the Onwe branch building we visited last week.

During Sunday School, I met with a man who made some mistakes a long time ago and is eager to get back into the Church. I think we made some good progress and now I have some homework I need to do.

We left Fiapre about 11:45 am. Elder Ramiadamanana and Elder Polaulu had 5 baptisms after sacrament meeting. It is glorious to see the gathering of Israel occurring as such an increased pace. We stopped in Dauyaw Nkwanta to help with some temple recommends. President Asante was already there and would ultimately do all but one. That was left to me. I was grateful to interview Mohammed Farouk who was baptized by Elder Bayles and Elder Tupou over a year ago. In fact, he told me he and his wife were the first baptisms in the new building last year. This is a very good man with an outstanding family. I felt it a privilege to do the interview.

We returned home around 2:30 pm. I spent some time reading missionary letters. I sent out a general note to everyone that I would no longer be responding to all of them as part of the transition to President Boateng. I do not want to set him up where the missionaries expect a letter back every week. So I will stop doing it now, in hopes they will write with no expectation of a return letter each week (there are weeks I have not been able to respond to each one, but it is usually one and sometimes two weeks out of the transfer).

Sunday night I met with Assistants and we planned the virtual MLC meeting for Monday night and talked about the plan for the upcoming zone conferences and the Boateng’s incoming schedule. There is a lot going on right now as we begin to prepare for the transition in a way that will bless the missionaries, the members, the leaders, and especially our good friends the Boateng’s. We are so privileged to be gathering Israel, one last time, Together in Ghana.