Elder Porritt in Ghana: Special Baptism!

Wow this week has been such an amazing week I don't even know how to describe it. Really the amazing days were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Also some pretty big news is that I will be saying goodbye to this place of Techiman and I will be leaving Wednesday morning to go to a place called Agona which is about 2 hours north of Kumasi and from what i have heard from people, it is kinda just like a village, its really small. There is only one companionship of missionaries in the whole place of Agona and my new companion will be Elder Motloung from South Africa. (don't even try to pronounce his name because I know you can't. It has clicking noise in there and I can't even do it still soooo yeah...) But yeah i am pretty excited to be going to a new place. I love Techiman but I am ready to be somewhere else for sure! i cant wait to go!

So Friday was amazing because we had Zone Conference. Although us missionaries in the northern part of the mission aren't too many, it was way way powerful. We had 30 missionaries between the Techiman and Sunyani Zones and also President and Sister Cosgrave, Elder and Sister Wardle, and the Assistants were there for Zone Conference. It was seriously so amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I was able to learn so many things that are already helping me become a better teacher and a better missionary in general. Also on Friday was the big huge festival day for some crazy festival thing the people of Techiman celebrate called the apoɔ festival and Friday was the main day and there was about a trillion and a half people there at the Chief's Palace right in the middle of town... So yeah that was cool hah. Then Friday night, the Wardles had me and Elder Khumalo, along with Elder Peterson and Elder Prior who are also in our apartment, over for dinner and Sister Wardle made hamburgers from ground beef that she was able to find in Kumasi. and WOW those were amazing to say the very least!!! The Wardles are so amazing!!

Anyway, Saturday was also way sweet because we already knew I was being transferred, plus we knew that Elder Peterson was being transferred, we did a bunch of laundry and started packing our big bags so that the Wardles could take them to Kumasi to the mission home on Sunday. Saturday was just a really sweet day doing stuff with all 4 Elders in our apartment and we were able to have a sweet day!

Then Sunday. Obviously Sunday was a very special day already with it being Easter, but it was also my last Sunday here in Techiman, and we were fortunate enough to have a baptism as well. I was able to give a talk with it being my last week in the area and I talked about Jesus Christ, the whole Atonement, from the Suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Resurrection and I really focused on the Resurrection just with it being Easter and all. But man I love studying about and talking about my Savior Jesus Christ. I absolutely love it. He literally went through everything for us. He suffered for our sins, He suffered for our sadness and sorrows, He suffered for our temptations, He literally suffered for everything in our lives. And the thing that is amazing is that He didn't have to, He could have stopped at any time and just quit, cause I'm sure that taking on every single pain that has ever been felt by every human being to ever walk this earth wasn't something that was fun or felt good, but it was something that hurt more than anything we could ever imagine. I know that Jesus Christ loved us so much that he laid down his own life so that we could be redeemed from sin and from Death. The really amazing part is that He really rose again and that today, He lives, and one day, because He lives, we will also live again. I love my Savior.

With the baptism on Sunday, it was for sure amazing. We have been teaching Gifty for a long time and she has been ready and prepared for baptism for a long time, she has just been waiting for her two daughters to return from school for them to also be there at the baptism. And on Thursday, the twins returned and yesterday, Gifty was baptized by her Husband, Bro Andoh. It was truly amazing to see our 2nd councilor help his blind wife go down the steps of the baptismal font, and then baptize her. That was seriously one of the most amazing things i have been able to witness on my mission so far, maybe in my whole life. The joy that comes from people coming into the Gospel is something that cannot be described and its something that doesn't come from anything else. Seeing people accept the Gospel, live it and then be able to receive the blessings from it is awesome.

so yeah that was how my week went. it was a really good one. I also hope everyone back home was able to have a great week as well. I love you all and I hope this week as you are able to watch General Conference, you have something you are trying to learn or be taught by our amazing General Authorities.

Love Elder Porritt