"I do not worship a dead, lifeless body on a cross. I do not worship a dead God. My God is living. I testify that Jesus Christ lives today, and he directs His Church and His work today, through a living prophet..." 

Branch Pres. excited about truckload of furniture for chapel

Dear Family and Friends,

     I had a pretty awesome meal this week. Fufu with groundnut soup and grasscutter. Grasscutter (or cane rat) is a type of bushmeat. It's basically a giant wild rat. It was interesting. Honestly though, it tasted like roast beef. Not too bad... except for the skin. It was like rubber and about a centimeter thick. Elder James couldn't eat all of his so he shared with the random cat that was begging at our table. After we ate, I lured the cat over and tricked him into letting me pet him with my left hand, then went in for the kill with my right. April Fooling!  I wiped my hands off on him while I pet him, and spoiled his nice, white, fluffy fur. Ha, ha. We were served by a member, Maame Dadson, the recent widow, and there's a little girl that lives in her compound (the one who said she would marry me); when they brought us the water to wash out hands, she insisted on washing our hands for us. She said, "Stop, let me do it, obruni!"

    This week was slow. But in light of Easter, Elder James and I have been going around sharing an Easter message with people. The thing is, everyone here goes crazy about the crucifixion and death of Christ. They 'celebrate' it for 4 days. They all watch, "The Passion of the Christ" and they just dwell on these things. Nobody remembers the fact that Christ resurrected on the third day. Nobody remembers that JESUS CHRIST LIVES TODAY. The churches here just complain about the injustice of the death of Christ, and nobody realizes the implications of his resurrection. There is a higher meaning to Easter. So we've been sitting down with random people, and sharing with them the true meaning of the Easter season. We've been explaining these things to them, how it should really be.

     While proselyting in a village this week, on Good Friday, we saw all the Roman Catholics parading through the streets with a bunch of crosses. Then they all congregated in the middle of the market while their pastors held these giant wooden crosses. Then they all got on their knees, and bowed down literally worshiping the cross. This was just so wrong to me! First of all, they're worshiping an idol. Second of all, that idol is a torture tool. It's a murder weapon. The cross was infamously viewed as a sign of horror, pain, and death for hundreds of years during the times of the Romans. Why would you worship the thing that killed your Lord and Savior? If someone murdered your most loved one with a shotgun, are you going to hang that shotgun on your wall as a decoration? NO. Absolutley not.

     I do not worship a dead, lifeless body on a cross. I do not worship a dead God. My God is living. I testify that Jesus Christ lives today, and he directs His Church and His work today, through a living prophet, named Thomas Spencer Monson. He lived yesterday. He lives today. He will live forever. And his work will ALWAYS continue. No unhallowed hand can stop his glorious work.

     The Great Apostasy was real. I live among the heaping piles of evidence every day. And I'm fighting  the terrible effects everyday, trying to bring people to see the light of truth. The church is true!

Love,

Elder Doggett

Famous stuffed pizza Elder Doggett and Elder James make

Service project with branch