On Monday morning I played golf for the last time in Ghana. Without Elder Pack, I had to play by myself and with my caddie (Emmanuel). A good young man. He has actually visited the Daban Ward a while back. He is a Presbyterian and plays the drums for his church. It had rained a bunch the night before and during the night so there was no competition to get on the course early. While my score was not great, I actually played quite well. Too many trees on that course! The sky was overcast but it did not rain. Everything was so green! I was back home by 9:30 am.

On Monday, our Mission Leadership Council Virtual Meeting focused primarily on the use of the Baptismal Date Calendar.  We really want to stay focused on this particular concept so that the entire mission can benefit from setting realistic baptismal goals where the friends we are teaching understand the principles they need to be taught and learn prior to their baptizing.  We are beginning to see some benefits from this approach.  On the front of the document is the calculation of “days to baptism” with custom calendar forms.  On the back are the 40 principles.  Each time a principle is taught, the number of the principle can be circled, and our friend can see their progress towards baptism.

Tuesday morning, we were up at 4:30 am to drive to Sunyani for zone conference.  Even though we left a few minutes after 6:00 am, the traffic getting out of Kumasi was extra heavy that morning, so we arrived a bit later than we had hoped at 8:50 am.  We actually started a few minutes late.  It was another great conference following the same schedule as described last week. The topic we covered on the Scriptures on Christ was Jesus Christ, Jehovah.  One of the questions we discussed is “What is the difference between Jehovah and Jesus Christ?”  On the surface this seems like a simple question, but there is some deep doctrine to be explored here.  Another question that was posed was “What does it mean that Jehovah is the First and the Last?” I have said it before that studying and discussing these scriptures have changed the mission and continue to help grow the faith of missionaries.

The discussion on transitioning to the Boateng’s was equally spirit filled. We love it when “light bulbs” go off when we apply the scriptures to our own lives.

During the sessions where the zone leaders provided the instruction, Elder Christensen and Elder Kabeya (Techiman) taught about “What is a Plan?”  This is a skillset we are desperately in need of.  Chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel provides excellent guidance on how to plan, we just aren’t very good at doing it.  Sunyani Zone leaders (Elder Ramiadamanana and Elder Polaulu) taught about “Unity as disciples of Jesus Christ”.  It is no surprise that unity makes a huge difference in a companionship, in a district, in a zone, and in a mission.

The Assistant’s instruction came before lunch and then directly afterwards we had testimonies of the departing missionaries, One Minute Drills, and LaDawn’s instruction on Winning the Celestial Gold.  I finished the conference with a discussion on the five temple covenants.  It was then time to take some pictures and say goodbye.

I had a few temple recommends I needed to complete and one elder needed a bit more time with me.  It was good.  Following these interviews, President Amoah (District President) and his first counselor, Ernest Sukar joined me for a membership council for a member seeking readmission to the Church after being out of it for 14 years.  It was a sweet experience.  Now to get the application to the First Presidency completed.  Following the council, President Amoah had a few questions that we discussed.  Since releasing President Obeng as my first counselor, he has only me to come to.  We had a good discussion, finishing everything by about 6:40 pm.  We drove to the Tyco and checked in, but the room they gave us had a non-working a/c.  We were then moved to a second room with an excellent a/c but there were issues with the shower that made it less desirable.  But a/c won the day.  We had dinner (we love their chicken stroganoff) and then we came back and went to bed.

The next morning, we took our time leaving Sunyani.  In fact, maybe a bit too much time.   I think we made it to breakfast around 7:30 am and then headed out to Techiman. That road however was blocked by a truck (it was market day) and I figured we could take a short-cut.  Oops, that was a mistake.  The road I turned into took us deep into the Sunyani market, where vehicles were parked everywhere making what should have been an easily navigable two-lane road into an adventurous one-way affair with vehicles attempting to go both ways.  We finally got to a point where a large Sprinter Tro Tro had to back up about 50 yards to let us out.  I think he could see there was no alternative. That short-cut cost us about 40 minutes. When we finally emerged from the market, it put us right back on the road we originally turned off from, which now was clear. 

We drove to Techiman, taking a break at the couples apartment and then headed onto Tamale, arriving there about 4:30 pm.  Other than the market fiasco, it was an uneventful day and drive.  Just the way we like it.  After getting settled at the Ray’s apartment, Sister Ray provided us a delicious meal.

On Thursday, June 18^th, we awoke early and went for a walk as the sun was rising. There is a nice “one mile circle” where the Ray’s live that we usually walk three times.

After breakfast we drove over to the Tamale District Center and had our final zone conference.  Not just of the transfer, but forever.  That was actually quite sad for us. Following the same format as before, our discussion on the Scriptures on Christ was again on Jesus Christ, Jehovah.  We spent most of the time talking about the title “I am” and what it means and why it was important. It was a marvelous discussion as always.

As part of the discussion on transition, at all of our zone conferences we asked the missionaries to write a letter to the Boateng’s welcoming to the mission. This became especially pertinet after the discussion about new wine in old bottles. We have tried hard to do everything possible to make this transition as smooth as possible. There are still things that need to be said and done, but there just won’t be time for everything.

At the end, we took our traditional group pictures.

At the end of the conference and before we took the final group pictures, the Tamale Zone presented us with a Lambskin Scroll with the names of the missionaries serving there. Of special note is the phrase “heart, might, mind, and strength”. It was with this zone that we first discussed this phrase in relation to offering “our whole souls as an offering unto Him” (Omni 1:19).

Thursday night we went to Dinner at the Oasis, where I had chicken stroganof and LaDawn had bolognese. We ate half and saved the other have for our lunch the next day. We also did something quite rare, we sat down and watched a movie with the Rays. The title was “Belle”and though it was a 2014 movie, we had never seen it. It was outstanding and filled with valuable lessons and learnings.

Friday morning was another early morning so we could get on the road. We were actually a bit later than we had hoped, but still were able to leave before 7:00 am. We stopped at the Shell station and bought gas and were on our way. We took a break in Techiman at the couple’s apartment where we ate our leftovers from the night before. We drove back into Kumasi and were home by 1:30 pm.

Saturday I spent much of the day working on updating the Akwaaba book and making sure all of the files were on the Google Drive for the Boateng’s. LaDawn also finished up some of her handover materials, escpecially relating to phone checks. At 12:30 pm, we drove over to the Daban building and participated in the baptism of Enoch Afriyie. He is the husband of our mission attendant. After Enoch had two dreams that I was to baptize him before we left, he made time for all of the missionary lessons to be taught him. The baptism itself happened on Saturday. After spending 4.5 years in West Africa, it turns out that on our very last weekend here, I was able to personally baptize someone. Enoch is exceptional. Both Enoch and Hannah live up to their Biblical names. What a tender mercy for us to be involved in such an amazing event right before we leave.

On Sunday, we returned to the Daban ward where I was able to confirm him a member of the Church and bestow upon him the Holy Ghost. What great joy filled our souls!

One last comment on the week. On Thursday, Sister Lomboto returned to her home in Kinshasa, DR Congo. Here mom had gone for medical care in South Africa and her family requested she come home two months early to care for her younger brothers in her mother’s absence. We were sorry to see her go, but felt it important to support her family, and the missionary department and Area Presidency agreed.

And with that, our last full week in the mission came to a close. Only a few days remaining and we too will be on our way. We have absolutely loved our experiences here in the Ghana Kumasi Mission. It has been life changing for us. There is no greater work on all the earth than the gathering of Israel, and no better opportunity than for us than to be involved in the work Together in Ghana. Hurrah for Israel!