FRESH ORANGE JUICE, STORMS AND A BAPTISM

Orange juice party!

Dear Family and Friends,

            This week was super busy and stressful. My companion had to go on splits twice this week, because he is the DL. We had a Zone Conference which was pretty cool, all about being a consecrated missionary. We had full days, and we were preparing F. for baptism, which happened right after a ward conference.

            The baptism took place yesterday after church, and it went ok. ___________ didn't fulfill his duties like he said he would. Once again, this is a big challenge here. Most people have no sense of responsibility, everything usually ends up falling on somebody else's shoulders. It's extremely frustrating for me, because I do everything I can to do what I've said I will do, and so many people here simply don't care. I don't want to complain too much, but that has been bothering me all week. The baptism was good though, we had a sweet member from the ward perform the baptism. He's a really nice kid, he was just made an elder a few months ago, and he is goaling for a mission. I love to work with the prospective missionaries, they're always so ready to help teach.

            Our Saturday was interesting this week. We were in the middle of a lesson when we suddenly noticed how dark the skies were. It started raining and we kept teaching until it started blowing in through the screens. We were just in this little porch that didn't have real windows. The rain blowing through the screen was just pushing all the dirt through it and getting it all over us, haha so we had to abort the lesson and take cover. It lasted just over and hour, and it flooded like crazy. It was fun to watch though; extreme weather is always exciting.

            As we were passing the church one day this week, we saw the scouts out in the car park, standing at attention. So we went over to watch their meeting a bit. To my surprise, there is a big African scout program that they run here. It was amusing, because they were all standing at attention, and the leaders were teaching them how to properly march and stuff. I thought the whole regimentation of it all was funny, because back home it is so casual. They were there at the ward conference putting up the flags and stuff.

            Last week we found a juicer in the apartment! It was tucked away up in the corner of one cabinet. We were so excited that we bought a bag of 50 oranges for 5 cedis and juiced them all yesterday. It was a sweet deal, it made 3 litres. Where if you buy juice at the store for 5 cedis you'll get like 1 litre. Anyways, we soon realized how pathetic it was that we were getting all jazzed over a cheap China juicer, haha. Missionaries...

            So back to the Zone Conference we had. President Shulz gave a lot of insight as to how to become a consecrated missionary. I've been reflecting on his instruction, and another talk I've read recently, and I've been setting personal goals. There is always something you can work on to become better. D&C 31:5 states that if we thrust in our sickles with all our might, we are forgiven of our sins. That's a powerful prospect and it is what is driving me to become better.

            Mom, Just remember that no effort is wasted in missionary work. Every Book of Mormon handed out goes somewhere, and will be found by somebody; every testimony gets heard. I just heard a story from Elder Miskin, where one of his EFY counselors handed out a BOM to a non-member girl at a soccer camp. She wrote her testimony and everything in it. She never heard from her. Fifteen years later she gets a Facebook message from some woman saying, "Thank you so much for your testimony and sharing the BOM, here's a picture of my family sealed in the temple." It wasn't even from the same girl, just a stranger that her BOM fell into the hands of.

 Love, 

Elder Doggett

Ghanaian scouts

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".... this marks a momentous event in my life--- I've now officially finished the complete standard works of the church for the first time consecutively. I've studied them deeply, comparing one with another. All I have to say is the Church is true."

Dear Family and Friends,

            I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants this week, so I will list a few reflections: I learned a lot about the organization and responsibilities of the priesthood, especially from Section 107. The priesthood is divine, no man could invent such a complex, precise, and everlasting ideal. Also, there are some portions of the D&C that are not direct revelations, such as minutes from a meeting or letters from Joseph Smith to the whole church. Every time I read those portions, I could sense the difference between them and the direct communications of Jesus Christ to His prophet. It just made me realize how divine the writings really are. No mere man could write the Book of Mormon, we know, let alone subsequently claim 280 pages of admonishing instruction from the Savior himself. The notion of fraud in the matter is preposterous. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was His prophet, end of story.

            Now this marks a momentous event in my life--- I've now officially finished the complete standard works of the church for the first time consecutively. I've studied them deeply, comparing one with another. All I have to say is that the Church is true.

            Speaking of scriptures, Elder Ormond and I found a sweet chapter in the Book of Mormon to illustrate the way the adversary tempts us. We taught it in a lesson to a recent convert to show how the BOM applies to us. Go read Alma 47: 1-19 with this key: AMALICKIAH=SATAN and LEHONTI=YOU. I was nerding out about how awesome this was, and how it would make a pretty good screenplay...

            So there is a huge granite quarry not far from our proselyting area near the ocean, and this week we could hear them blasting. A few days this week we would hear the blast, and a bit later see huge clouds of dust billowing into the ether from the explosion. It was cool.

            We have one investigator who is progressing very well. His name is F., and he is 17 years old. He's a referral, from his uncle who is a strong member. Yesterday we had  a lesson with him planned at the same time as another lesson, so my comp and I had to split. I went to teach F. the Law of Chastity with two other teenage boys, which was just dandy, haha. I thought they handled it pretty well, there were only a few isolated giggles. Anyway we are planning to baptize him this coming Sunday. He's already really active and has lots of friends, so we're not too worried. He's a good listener too.

Love,

Elder Doggett

PS (we had a water fight this morning, and I am sad to report that while my nerf gun does well against the crawlers, it can't hold out against water pistols.)

Taxi, anyone?

" I realized just how expansive and everlasting the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It attracts and blesses the lives of people from all walks of life. '...He inviteth them all to come unto him... black and white, bond and free, male and female... and all are alike unto Him...' (2 Ne 26:33)"

Futbol, the favorite game in Ghana!

Dear Family and Friends,

            I've really started enjoying the nerf gun I got for Christmas; it has turned into a giant insect/arachnid eradication unit. I think every apartment should have one, standard issue. That thing shoots hard; I blew a cockroach apart in the kitchen the other day.

 There is a big futbol park in the middle of our proselyting area, and on Saturday they had a big area tournament. The days preceding the tourney, they were making all kinds of preparations. They welded new goalposts and nets, they dug out a new road for cars to pass during the game (because the road ran right through the dirt field), and they even broke up some storm drain entries and buried them. They went all out with flags and painted lines. Haha! The things they do for futbol here. Needless to say, proselyting was not effective on Saturday!

            Currently we're working really hard on getting to know members in the ward. I LOVE the members here. One of my great joys as a missionary so far has been building relationships with the Saints here in the golden coasts of Ghana. They have sincere and moving testimonies, and they're not afraid to share them. This ward has so many member families; it's a missionary playground for me. Through members is how REAL GROWTH is achieved in the church.

            Last night we shared a quick message from the Book of Mormon

, 2 Ne 9:39, with a nice family from Cote d' Ivoire. We started with hymn #243, Let Us All Press On, only we were singing in English, and they in French. It was really something, singing a hymn in two languages simultaneously. At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord joined us. As we visited and shared our scripture, I could feel the light of the gospel glowing from this humble family. I'm not sure how to describe it, that's the best I can do. It just felt so good. I had the impression dwell in my mind that the gospel has greatly impacted this family. The father was a missionary in Ivory Coast in 1992, and now he's a high councilman. He sells home security features door to door. The mother is a hairdresser. They're all refugees from the civil war in Ivory Coast; they've been in Ghana for 3 years. Their kids grew up learning French and their own local dialect, and now they have to pick up Fante and learn English in school. I'm sure it's hard for them to fit in here. They're living in an unfinished flat owned by another member. It doesn't even have a front door or window to its name, just two empty frames.

            So we sat together in a circle, sharing faith and singing hymns to our Father in Heaven in two separate languages. For some reason, that is what triggered the aforementioned thoughts. It was a beautiful moment. I realized just how expansive and everlasting the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It attracts and blesses the lives of people from all walks of life. "...He inviteth them all to come unto him... black and white, bond and free, male and female... and all are alike unto Him..." (2 Ne 26:33) God loves all of his children. Love is the vehicle of the Spirit.  We felt an increased measure of both last night.

Love,

Elder Doggett

Kids from the ward on New Year's 

 

Bring on the bugs!!

Email from Jan. 6, 2014:

REFLECTIONS ON STEEL, GOLD AND DIAMONDS.....

Dear Family and Friends,

            My dark year is finally over! The 'dark year' is considered the whole year that you don't see your family on mission. I saw them in 2012, and I'll see them in 2014. The ward had a huge watch night party that we went to. There is actually an African American sister in the ward from California, and she brought her next door neighbor, so we started chatting him up. We are yet to get into contact with him again. Obviously, we went home at like 9, so we could sleep, haha. No such thing as a night life as a missionary. If there is, you're not doing anything good!

            In a recent email, my dad said something that has caused me to reflect. He was commenting on the struggles of my last area, but also on the blessings. It's like HE was counting MY blessings for me. Specifically, he touched on how Elder and Sister Ivie came into field when they did to give us support and counsel. Thinking back, every time the Ivies gave us a hand, or a meal, it was a welcome respite. I did have a lot of blessings there.

            My father on earth said, "All these things are proof that the Lord really IS who he says he is." At the same time, my Father in Heaven confirmed it in my heart. I had a large sense of reality in that moment. An overwhelming feeling of love washed over me as I realized just how infinitely more wise the Lord is than I. We missionaries are in his hands, whether we know it or not. I think it can best be described in a recent quote from President Monson in the October 2013 General Relief Society Meeting of Conference. "You will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you." I can see that now.

            My time in Swedru was extremely difficult for me. More so, honestly, than I usually let on. I didn't have a lot of drive to work, and I was tired of failures. I was confused as to why I also had extra responsibilities given to me. Now I know. There is a reason I was called as a trainer and district leader at that time, specifically. If I didn't have those responsibilities, I may have come out of that area much differently. My callings pushed me to be an example to my district and mission son. (and E. Cowan turned out to be an example to me, too.) They pushed me to work when I didn't want to, which was often. In fact, they pushed me so hard that they pushed me right out of that hole I was in. 

            Through extreme temperatures and long hours of pounding, a common metal rod is transformed into a beautiful blade of precious steel. Through a refiner's fire, the impurities of gold melt away, allowing it to achieve it's potential. Through intense and prolonged pressures, the blackest coal becomes the most magnificent diamond. So it is with us.

Love,

Elder Doggett

Enjoying American hamburger in Africa