Renegade hen...and another sweet baptism

Baptism of J., Feb 23, 2014

  Dear Family and Friends,

   I heard this week that Swedru became a stake. I remember they were pushing really hard when I was there, so that's cool for them.
    Funny story this week. We closed our day one night and we spent some time discussing and planning. We said a prayer, then as I began to undress I saw a chicken spying at me from behind the door in our room. It just stood there without moving a muscle or making a sound. Elder Ma'afu saw me staring, so he glanced over and casually said, "Well how'd that get there?" Suddenly I remembered how the lights had gone off when we came home for lunch, and I opened the front door wide to get a breeze coming in. The hen clearly moseyed on in at that time unnoticed by us. Haha we had locked it in our bedroom all day. My comp got a broom and began to push it into the hall, then out the front door. It drunkenly staggered around and gave a few pathetic squawks. It was probably starving. Ooops. When we pushed her out the front door she tried to come back in, but ended up passing out on our porch in a very homeless manner. Needless to say, she left little presents all over our floor that I had to seek out and mop up, haha. So that was amusing.
    There are many people here that set up shops without license. A few times since I've been in Takoradi we've seen all the shops along the road just obliterated. There are some guys that go around with red spray cans and mark, "Remove or produce license by 'such and such date' " on all the shops that are illegal. Then randomly, they will come with a backhoe and wreck all of them if they don't comply. It's kind of unfortunate for those selling, but I guess it's just how they have to enforce the law here.
    We had one candidate baptised after church yesterday, J. She's a 13 year old from a part member family. We've been working with her for some time now, since I got here. She's progressed a LOT in that time. The baptism service went very well. Everyone played their parts and we had member support. We were a bit worried the day before because the water wasn't flowing to fill the font (a common problem here). But in the morning it was running just fine.
    We have been beyond busy these past two weeks, it's so fun. We've been improving member relations and we're starting to see fruits of our efforts. We received two solid referrals and we're contacting people on the daily. Elder Ma'afu is a machine; a very hard worker. And holy smokes, that man can eat! We have just mountains of rice everyday for lunch, haha.

Love, Elder Doggett

P.S.  Often in lessons I share some things that Mom has told me about her conversion. Actually, thinking back, I quote you and Mom a lot in lessons, just phrases that you guys have said that stick out to me. Especially your chastising, "You NEVER shirk your duty onto other people". I like that one, and I've used it a lot!

Chilling at district meeting in our apartment

February....the hottest month in Ghana

Proselyting in the Haunted Jungle:  "It's scarier than it looks in the picture...... there were giant spider webs everywhere."

Dear Family and Friends,

            This week was incredibly busy. I slept like a baby this week I was so tired after every day. This month of February is the hottest in Ghana, so if you are in the sun for even one hour, you're exhausted. I'm glad this is my last hot season here.

            Our ward is picking things up. We've started having meetings again, and they finally got out the home teaching lists yesterday. Home teaching is a challenge in every ward and branch here, but it is so important! Don't neglect your home teaching; that's when people slowly start to fall away. Also yesterday the bishop called two more ward missionaries, so I believe that will help us out. I pray that our members will help us get the ball rolling for 2014, even though we've had a late start. 

            One of our investigators, from a part member family, is preparing for baptism this coming Sunday. We've been teaching her since I've got here and we've had a few rough patches, but she is progressing well. Her name is J; and she's 13 years old. Story of this ward, haha. There are so many youth! We want to start giving the priests in the ward the opportunity to perform baptisms when we have them; we think that will strengthen their testimonies and up their zeal for missionary work.

            Another investigator we contacted on the street last week came to church! That's kind of rare, but he is receiving our teachings very well. His name is I., and he is 67 years old. He looks like he's 45 though, haha. Ghanaians don't really age... This guy is so full of energy it's almost stressful to teach him. He gives us respect and time to teach, but you will see him start squirming in his seat as we teach, just dying to give his contribution. I swear he talks a mile a minute. Haha his brothers and sisters and some of his kids are all pastors in different churches. He says he feels left out, so he wants to join up with us. He had been to many churches, and in all of them he says he had found things that are not in harmony with holy writ, so he had stopped going to church for some time. When he came on Sunday, he was received so well by the ward! Everyone was talking to him and getting to know him, which he just loved because he's a social butterfly, haha. I pray that he comes to personal knowledge of the truth.

Love,

Elder Doggett

I was talking to an American member in our ward and she said I have a dry sense of humor. I said, "Yeah, I'm from Idaho, everything is dry!  Dry weather, dry land, dry people......dry humor!"

Elder Doggett's subject line said, "check out this ENORMOUS scorpion we found in our apartment".   He got his mother on this one.....I was thinking it would be the size of his fist! :-)

FORGING NEW ROADS IN GHANA...........

Many hands make light work!

Lots of shoveling......

and more shoveling!

E. Doggett, E. Reihle, E. Stoddard

Mission accomplished.....level road!

Dear Family and Friends,

            My new companion is called Elder Ma'afu, from Tonga. He's a sweet guy and he's full of energy! Haha I have to work hard to keep up with him. He was trained by Elder Carstens in Assin Foso, so he just came from there. He had been in his first area for 8 months.

            This morning we had a service project that went very well! I love service projects here, because we don't get to do them very often. A while ago, the Zone Leaders told us to watch out for a project that we could do as a zone. We contacted our bishop and he suggested we fill in the holes on the big road leading up into Mpintsin. He provided the filling and we gathered tools from members yesterday. We got up early and met up to start our work. As we were going, we had some people join us, two people in particular. They were just local residents of the area, but these two guys worked harder than some of us, haha. Some of the members threw in their hands as well and we had a really great time. As we filled the holes in the road, cars kept passing and in doing so, they packed down the dirt for us. We received some nice compliments, and made a few contacts, since it was in our area. One guy, however, pulled up next to me, Elder Reihle, and my bishop. At first it seemed that he would thank us, but there must be opposition in all things, right? He asked which organization was doing this, then proceeded to trash talk America and England, saying that they were the ones who caused problems like this. He said, "You know, some people may notice this, but most people will not be impressed. Why are you people coming to fix this road while your countries are stealing from us Africans?... blah blah blah." He just wasted his breath on us. Elder Reihle said, "We believe that when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are in the service of God." (he loves to quote scriptures at people who don't even know where they come from, haha) We told him that whether or not our efforts are appreciated, we will still serve. The guy didn't care. All I have to reflect about it now is D&C 75: 21. (We found out that we is a Pentecostal minister, who clearly does not understand the definition of true religion)

            So I was reading in Lance Richardson's "The Message", that you sent to Elder Ormond, Mother. I like the chapter where he talks about service and how important it is in a Zion Society. He explains how service is the action form of love. You just feel so warm inside when you give service, it's not something you can easily describe.

            So our 'Apostasy Week' just ended, which is the last week of our subsistence period. This is when missionaries are out of money, haha. Normally I budget pretty well, but I enjoyed a bit too much with Elder Ormond. Miraculously though, we were fed or given food by members a few times this week, which kept us afloat. The Lord looks after His missionaries, even when they're slightly short-sighted. But, President Shulz just raised our subsistence by 20 cedis due to all the inflation. Fuel has gone up over 4 times since I entered the country. Prices are going up, up, up.

            Otherwise, transfers went well, but we had a really slow week in the area. We do have 2 people who are preparing for baptism, though. Both are young women who were referred by members. There are SO many young men and women in our ward, I daresay they make up half of our numbers.

Love,

Elder Doggett

P.S. Actually I was told that snake will "give you a bit of a fever if it bites you, but you'll be okay."        

 

New companion, Elder Ma'afu

BEACH FUN AND A S-S-S-SURPRISE GUEST

F. before his confirmation last week

Boat ride to Shama Island

Dear Family and Friends,

            This week was pretty slow in terms of missionary work, but some notable events occurred. One day, all our lessons failed before noon, so we had nothing to do. We ran into a good member friend of ours, D. she loves missionaries and tries to have us over all the time. She's 38 and she acts 18, haha. The other day I was asking if she could show us how to make 'bankye kakro', which is basically fried cassava balls with onion and pepper. Really good snack food. I didn't want to go during proselyting time, but she kinda forced us, and we went to her place to she could show us how to make it.

            While we were doing so, D.' neighbor came from her room with a frightened look on her face. She said an animal had entered her room, but she didn't specify what. She was so upset she couldn't even speak English, haha. We said, "Well, we'll kill it for you." So we went down and found a 3 foot long snake chilling on the window sill of her kitchen. We called for a cane (small stick used to beat impertinent children), and I tapped at it from the outside, and it stuck it's head up a little. I then passed the cane to Elder Ormond, he lined up his aim through the door, and in one fell swing he dropped the thing. He nailed it right behind the head, it fell from the sill and just slowly writhed on the floor. We swept it out the door crushed it's head to seal the deal. It proceeded to slowly convulse, for even like 15 minutes afterward. But we started taking pictures with it, while the African ladies just giggled at us. Haha, but the woman whose room the snake was still so afraid, she was almost in tears. Elder Ormond was really buzzing about it all, apparently there are no snakes in New Zealand. He said he'll add that to his kill list.

            On a different note, we had a lesson that went pretty bad (in my eyes) this week. It had been a while since we had seen this particular investigator and we needed to follow up on the Book of Mormon we had given him. We had the feeling he was dodging us.  We started discussing what he had read and he started firing questions, which seemed honest at first, but soon we were just going around in circles and it was getting a bit heated. There were some things we said that he absolutely refused to accept, and I could just see his heart hardening. It was all over his face. We found out he had gotten on the internet and read some unfavorable material about the church, which made sense. I'm sure this happens all the time in state-side missions, and I feel for those missionaries. This situation was so frustrating for me, because normally when we cease teaching someone it is due to laziness, apathy, disinterest, or absence of time. But this man was out right refusing our message, for whatever reason. He would not even consider the possibility of its truthfulness; it was saddening to me.

            Afterwards, I was wondering if it was my fault, "Did I say something wrong? Did I not have the Spirit?” It was the typical self-blaming stuff. But the Spirit cannot enter a closed heart. I hope the future allows this man to honestly consider what we know to be true.

            Now, transfer news. We get a call this week from President Shulz. I just look at the number as it rings, thinking, "Aww man, President is calling right before transfers, I know what that means." It means Zone Leader. So I answer the phone, President greets me small and asks about the area, then says, "Elder, can I speak to your companion now?" I just hand over the phone with a smirk. On my end, I only hear, “...getting up at 6:30 AM?.... gotta be an example... leading missionaries..." Then Elder Ormond says, "Yes, I'll do that for you. I accept." ZONE LEADER! Hahahahaha. I had dodged the bullet, and I was poking fun at my companion over it, until the phone rings again. I hear it in my pocket and Elder Ormond says, "I'll bet that's the Assistants" (BTW the Assistants extend calls to District Leaders.) Yup, it's the Assistants. "Elder Doggett, I'm calling on behalf of President Shulz, the Lord needs you to be a DL, do you accept?" Suuure. Haha.

            Now don't get us wrong, the opportunity to serve is very welcome in our eyes. It just... adds to the stress. :) I'm not surprised I was called as a DL again.  I was always telling President in my letters how much I enjoyed conducting splits and baptism interviews. So I'm staying, and my comp is going. I'll miss him, he's a sweet guy. He's very easy to get along with and loves pretty much everybody.

            So that's what is going on in my little corner of the vineyard!

Love,

Elder Doggett

P.S. we had a pretty fun district activity today. We went to Shama Island, and we had to take a boat ride there. Elder Ormond taught us how to play rugby (touch) and we zipped a frisbee around. I'll send pictures.

Snake ALIVE.........

Snake DEAD.  (Mother begs to differ....this slithering reptile was at least FIVE feet!!!)

Snake-killer E. Ormond