The Gift of Tongues

Hello everyone,

Another week is gone, and its been a quick one. This morning we had a 3 District tournament at the mission home and the good old Nkoransa District took home the trophy... too bad there wasn't an actual trophy, but we still won. The new elder in our apartment, Elder Ebissan, he is from Ivory Coast, that guy can PLAY!! We had a good morning for sure ha!

One great thing was our new guy Kwab. We contacted Kwab in a small village in our area called Pakyi, about 2 weeks ago. When we contacted him, he seemed like another guy who just called us over and wanted to make me speak Twi and laugh (unfortunately a ton of people do that, its terrible haha) but we gave him one pamphlet and took his number. We tried to go there this last week but his phone was switched off the whole week. Well Saturday night, we got a call from a random number, turns out it was him, using his friend's phone. He called and told us that he was coming to church tomorrow, and that he didn't have transportation money so he was going to have to walk. When he said that, I thought, 'ha how could he walk from that place to church' Just to help you see the picture, its over 3 miles of steep hills from his place to the chapel and the road has I think 5 or 6 big hills to climb and descend, its a pain for us to even go there in a car, let alone someone walk... Well to my great surprise, the guy came!! He showed up about 30 minutes into Sacrament meeting (9:30), he said he started walking around 7:30. Well if that doesn't show dedication, I don't know what does. So we have a lot of people right now who are pretty great, we are hoping for Brother Thm to be baptized this Saturday, and Sister Pat next Saturday! The work is sweet here in Nkoransa!! 

Jerry was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday, and yesterday after church, we went to his house and met his wife, Grc, who has expressed concern about the church earlier when he started investigating the church. She has many of the same doubts and ideas that most Ghanaians have, that the church worships the devil and that the Book of Mormon is a chanting book where we use it for rituals and get money from it hahah... (gotta love ghana..) But we went there and she said that she has seen a big change in Jerry's life since he met us, which is really true, cause he has went from a daily weed smoker and someone who is easy to fight with, to someone with more patience and someone who is clean from alcohol and drugs, all within a little over a month. For me, I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has all power to change lives, to help people overcome addictions, and to become completely different people. I am also sure that Grc will be a member within a few months as she begins to meet with the missionaries and see what the church is all about!

The greatest part of the week was Jerry's testimony that he bore after he was baptized on Saturday. I am thankful for the gift of interpretation of tongues that I was able to understand what he said in Twi (even though I still can't speak Twi that well). His testimony was one of the most powerful that I have heard born since I have been a missionary. He also bore testimony of how he came to know the church was true and the change that it has brought into his life. Anyone who could understand what he was saying probably would have been brought to tears, I definitely was. I am so thankful for the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I know that He is there for us to help us, strengthen us, change us, and forgive us, only on condition that we come to Him for that help. I love this work, and I am sad to see it go like this, only a few weeks left, but we are making the very most of it!!

I love you all and hope you have another great week!!

Elder Porritt

pictures are of Jerry's baptism!