March 6, 2017 Email

Hey everyone,

So Elder Achi left for a new area to be a District Leader his last 2 transfers.  So that day we went and saw a few people.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the apartment there was Elder Seninde!!!!!  Chai this guy was with me in the beginning in Odoben!!!!!!  Now he's here in Anyaa!!!!  Time flies, and I guess it's a small world (mission) so yeah!!!!!

For our District Counsel Meeting we had President Simpson present because he was doing a special interview for an investigator named Robert Brown.  So, President Simpson is so chill!!!!!!!  He came and did the interview and then the rest of that Wednesday was just an epic fail of seeing people.

We saw a few people on Thursday and that was with Emefa, Kobby, Wofa Kwasi, and then Robert.  So Emefa is cool.  She is hopefully going to be baptized on the 26th of this month and yeah she's alright.  Kobby is being baptized on Sunday so that's good.  Wofa Kwasi is a man that we contacted a few weeks ago.  We have been teaching him a little bit and he is doing pretty well.  He's been to a lot of churches and really loves the teachings that we bring to him.  Robert Brown is doing amazing!!!!!  He will hopefully be baptized this upcoming Wednesday!!!!  I also talked to Lambson and Elder Wilson. . .THEY ARE IN BUDABURUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My first area!!!!! Lambson is serving in the Liberia Camp and Wilson is serving in my area!!!!!  Chai that is just crazy!!!!



Now I'm basically going to sum up the rest of the week to be time efficient.  I went on exchange with Seninde cuz Koetting had an interview for a baptism.  We went to an area called Agape and we met a guy named Brian.  So he's Nigerian and he wanted us to attend his church.  We saw the church and just started to walk away as if everything was normal. 

We saw a truck and we got the idea to hop of the back of it. . .it was an AMAZING idea!!!! We rode on the back of a truck that was moving charcoal and our arms got covered in black and it was so scary to hold on to that haha!!!  We saw Mary and Henry.  Henry is going to stop drinking alcohol and he will try to come to church.  He didn't, but it was the thought that counted I guess.  We left and yeah.

Sunday was Fast Sunday and we got Kobby baptized!!!!!  So another funny story.  Okay, so we had a few baptisms a few weeks ago and we thought that everything was okay, but it turns out that the man who baptized did not have the Aaronic Priesthood, so it didn't count**.  We now have to baptize the people all over again. . .talk about awkward haha!!!!  We saw an old investigator named Naa Dede.  So, she was cool when we first found her.  So we met her and she just told us that she enjoys us coming and that our teachings were good, but that she wouldn't become a member of the church because she has her own church.  Talk about a major bummer!!!!!!!  So after that, we had a meeting for the District leaders.  Koetting was inside with that and I was outside our chapel with Elder Navales and Elder Farrel.  Chai these guys are so cool haha!!!!!!  Turns out that the chapel I'm at right now, is used in the movie "Freetown"!!!!!!!!!!  It always looked familiar, but I just never thought much of it!!!!  Turns out that it is that same chapel, talk about being in a movie scene haha!!!! So yeah.  We went to the mall today and I got some pancake mix and also some Blue Skies!!!!!  It's like a smoothie drink here in Ghana!!!!!!  Chai it is frickin amazing!!!!!!!!!  So now I'm here and things are just amazing!!!!!

I love you all and I hope that you all are doing amazing!!!!  Funny story:  I walked out of our room into the apartment and I couldn't find Koetting.  I looked for like 3 minutes and couldn't find him so I just kind of sat there.  I saw him come out of his closed and he was like "I came out of my closet".  I was so confused on what that meant, but later he told me and it was pretty funny haha!!!!!!  I just thought he was talking about Narnia or something like that haha!!!!!!

Love you alll!!!!!

Love,
Elder Stockton Smith

**

Baptism in the Lord's Way

The Savior revealed the true method of baptism to the Prophet Joseph Smith, making clear that the ordinance must be performed by one having priesthood authority and that it must be done by immersion:
"The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
"Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water" (D&C 20:73–74).
Immersion is symbolic of the death of a person's sinful life and the rebirth into a spiritual life, dedicated to the service of God and His children. It is also symbolic of death and resurrection. (See Romans 6:3–6.)