May 15, 2017 Email

Hey everyone!!!!!

Chai it was amazing being able to skype with you yesterday!!!!!!  Seeing the fam and Jazmin was beyond AMAZING!!!!  Sorry I wasn't able to get the webcam to work by the way haha!!!!  So the week. . .

I turned 21 on Tuesday and it wasn't that significant of a day to be honest.  We went out and we met a girl named Janet.  She contacted us and we are now teaching her and hopefully she will come to church.  We then met a guy named Timothy.  He's pretty cool, but it is hard to meet with him so that's a major bummer.  We went to Ablekuma and we saw a few people.  We saw Richard, Eugine, and Azuma.  So as for Richard and Eugine, they are people that we met and are trying to teach.  Azuma was being prepared for baptism.  We came back and I luckily found noodles for my Alfredo sauce that I bought.  So I enjoyed myself that night haha!!!

As for Wednesday, we went to a few people, but when we went to visit a member named Jones, we shared some scriptures with him.  I read from the Book of Mormon in the book of Ether and in chapter 12, verse 4, it is super sweet!!!!  I like to share that one with people who are going through a hard time and it's just an amazing scripture to have in these times.  But through hope and faith, all things will pass away and we will rest in the kingdom of our Father one day.

As for Thursday, we saw Janet again and she is doing well.  She read about the story of Joseph Smith and the First Vision.  We asked her to pray and we'll see how that goes.  We then met Robert Brown after so long!!!!!  So, for him he is just amazing!!!!!  When he's at his job at the airport he reads from the Book of Mormon and from the Doctrine and Covenants!!!!!  Tons of people ask him about it and he teaches them a little about it.  When people make fun of him he doesn't mind.  He's just an amazing example of being a representative of Jesus Christ wherever he may go.  So we saw a white guy named Jacob and he goes in about a month so it's pretty crazy.  He really admires us for what we do.  Mainly because he was only here for about 9 months and we serve to 2 years.  He's also very impressed with the church organization and the teachings in the church.  It's crazy to see how far the work can go and who it can affect.  So we then saw a sister named Comfort and we taught her about missionary work.  We left to meet the Zone leaders for our baptismal interviews.  I took Elder Ekhasomi to see Maxwell at the chapel while Koetting took Ndlovou to see Azuma.  Both of them passed with flying colors!!!!!!

So Friday.  We had weekly planning and that was long as usual.  Then we saw a girl named Priscilla.  She's just an odd person to be honest.  We then went far and saw a guy named Earnest.  We then saw Azuma and his grandmother named Happy haha!!!  So Azuma's grandma is super supportive of Azuma and his choice to join the church and she said that she would even come to see his baptism on Sunday!!!

Saturday we had chapel cleaning and tons of people showed up, including Azuma!!!!!  We cleaned the baptismal font and yeah.  We came back and got ready and went to see Janet.  She is doing well.  Se said she would come to church next week cuz she has a program in her church she wants to go to.  We then went and saw a few people with sister Comfort.  One in particular is Sister Belinda.  So she doesn't go to any church and she enjoyed things that we talked about.  We are going to see her again on Wednesday.  We went and saw another member named Obrimpong.  So he stays really far on bike and we rode all the way there.  We talked to him and answered some of his questions about Agency and things like that.  We came back and yeah.

 Sunday was by far the best day!!!! So we went to church and I first had a crazy bad cold, but now it's mostly gone.  We had a good Mother's Day program at the church.  We had a lot of fun there.  We had three investigators come--Azuma, Maxwell and Francis.  So after the main service we had our baptism for Azuma and Maxwell and two children of record (children who are 8 years old who were born to members of the church and choose to be baptized).  Elder Koetting baptized them so that was good for him.  We came back and I waited for a while to try to get my cold to go away, but it didn't.  We went to the chapel and I half Skyped haha!!!  I cold see my fam and Jazmin, but they couldn't see me.  Also, it was a major surprise to see Jazmin there cuz I thought she was all the way in Washington and she never told me that she came back so that was a huge surprise!!!!  It was amazing to talk to you all and to see how things were doing!!!!!

Well even today we went to the Achimota Mall.  That place is right next to my second area Chantan!!!!  We saw Bawden!!!!!  Koetting officially leaves me in about a week!!!!  So yea, I got a pizza at Pizza Hut and it was delicious!!!!!  Andy we are supposed to get a ton of new missionaries this next transfer, so we'll see what happens haha!!!

I love you all, I hope you all are doing AMAZING!!!!!  18 months down, and just 6 more to go!!!!!

Love,
Elder Stockton Smith