"So the last two weeks, Elder James and I have been waking up from this stupid toad croaking just beneath our window all night. This week, we decided to declare a jihad on the thing and catch it."

Dear Family and Friends,

     Our meetinghouse will be finished in 3 days. Pumped. The work really has slowed down as we are waiting for that roadblock to be removed.

      Mom, I got your package this week to Sister Salasi. She was a little shocked when I handed it so her. We visited a few days later to ask how she liked it, she got all giggly. I could tell she really appreciated it. It's easy to tell when Ghanaians are really happy :) I hope the testimony you wrote to her helps in some way!

      So the last two weeks, Elder James and I have been waking up from this stupid toad croaking just beneath our window all night. This week, we decided to declare a jihad on the thing and catch it. So we did. We pulled off this huge cement drain cover under the window, and there was this fat, ugly toad chilling there. So we used some buckets to wash him into the gutter, and lure him into the bucket. We took some pictures and poked him with a stick a bit, then threw him out far from the window. We didn't feel like killing him, but we vowed to put him to death by stoning if he returned. So far, all is well...

     We also found out we can get on top of our flat recently. You can just follow the stairs all the way up and the doors are open at the top. We've been going up there to watch the lightning when storms roll through. The lightning storms here are really intense, the sad part is they blow through in like 40 minutes. I miss storms in the States where the rain hangs around all day. Here, it will rain, the storm blows through, and the sun comes out to steam everything up like a rice cooker.

      The highlight of this week was the meeting with Elder Cook. He was actually coming through just to see the slave castle, but President Shulz invited him to speak and he accepted. So it was pretty impromptu, he didn't really have a script. Which was awesome, because you could see that he was a real person. He talked about his thoughts going through the castle. It reminded him of the Great Awakening going on in the US when the church was brought forth. As all these Reformers were doing their work, Jospeh Smith had the first vision. Then only three years after the church was organized, in 1833, Wilberforce passed legislation in Parliament to abolish slavery. He bore his testimony about the truthfulness of the Restoration, how it seriously came about in the perfect time in this world, which had been prepared by the Lord. I would have never connected that from seeing the castle. To me, it just shows that you can connect anything in this world to the Gospel, and somehow Apostles can do that. That's just how they're minds work, I guess.

     Elder Cook was a huge part of writing PMG (Preach My Gospel) so he had some killer insights on how to use it and such. But one of the things he said really stuck out to me about missionary work: He said, 'I see you all as branch builders, to help in any way you can. Converting people is only a part of your work.' That's something our mission really needed to hear. Honestly, a lot of guys get obsessed with numbers in this mission. It's a baptizing mission, and Africa is the fastest growing area in the church right now. Sometimes our leaders get pressured to produce numbers, numbers, numbers. But Elder Cook reminded us all that it's not like that. These people are living souls. They're real people. They're not numbers. Getting a baptism is about a person and his or her commitment to follow Jesus Christ, it is NOT a trophy to wave in front of people. Elder James and I have been trying to be very conscious of that.

     At the end, he gave our mission an Apostolic blessing. It was really cool. He blessed us with strength and courage to press forward in the work. He blessed us that we may open our mouths and our tongues will be loosed to proclaim the everlasting gospel. Then, he gave us a specific blessing. He promised us that sometime in our lives, we will see the blessing of serving our missions--- in ourselves, in our children, in our future spouses, in church callings, and in the lives of those people we teach and bring to the gospel. That was really comforting to me, because it's a blessing. From an Apostle! If I can continue to live worthily and diligently, I WILL see that blessing in my life.

     Ha,ha, something else was kinda funny he said. Elder Cook and Elder Holland served in the same mission in London in like 1962, they were even companions toward the end of their missions. So I guess they're like best friends. Elder Cook was telling us he was making fun of Elder Holland for something he said on one of our missionary training videos. Elder Holland said, 'When one of your investigators doesn't read from the Book of Mormon the assignment you gave them, be DEVASTATED!' When Elder Cook visited some pacific islander missionaries, they asked him about that [after watching the video]. The only thing they knew about devastation was from like hurricanes and stuff, so they thought that he wanted them to wreck the room and go crazy or something. So Elder Cook told Elder Holland he should have said 'disappointed' or something. But what was funny is that every time Elder Cook mentioned Elder Holland, he called him 'Jeff'. Ha ha, it just made me laugh to think of all the members of the 12 being on a first-name basis.

Cook: 'Hey Jeff, way to go on that training video!'

Holland: 'Quentin, I don't find your sarcasm amusing.'

     

     Hahahaha I have too much fun. Anyhow, all is well down here in the heat and stuff. 

Love and junk,

Elder Clinton Doggett"