"THE FIELD IS WHITE.....

Dear Family and Friends,

            We had a ward conference yesterday and I just feel like expressing how awesome the growth of the church is here in Ghana. It's amazing how fast the church grows! Just as they reported the statistics compared to the last conference I was impressed. The field is seriously white and ready to harvest. I just wish we had a harvester... that would make it even faster.

        Elder Nakedi and I also attended a stake council meeting because the stake president wanted us to report on how meetings are going in the stake. We asked our missionaries and they told us how things were going, so we forwarded that on to the stake leaders and various bishoprics. It was a good chance to address any problems or concerns that our missionaries have; very effective meeting. In addition, Pres Fokuo explained how fast the stake is growing, he just created 3 new branches just over a month ago and now there are 10 units: 7 wards and 3 branches. Assin Foso has only been a stake for 3 years! And they created a district just over a year ago. In a way, it's so exciting to see the numbers on a large scale. Surely the stone that was cut without hands is rolling forth to fill the whole earth. 

        On Thursday, we had interviews with President Stevenson. Our zone is huge, so it took all day. We did it by district though, so everybody would at least have a bit of proselyting time. President did 20 minute interviews to get to know everyone. We gave an instruction on working with members, which is a general weakness in our zone. I think it was effective and hopefully our missionaries have some new ideas to take to their areas. It went longer that we expected, so I felt bad because the Assistants had to cut their instruction in half. 

      We were actually supposed to go on splits with President after the meeting, but it was getting too late by the time we closed.

       Too bad, because we had a really powerful lesson that night! One of our seemingly insincere investigators got an answer to his prayer. How? By going to church on Sunday, even though he went to the other ward in town.  Revelation comes through church attendance.  K just did a 180, he was so excited about all he had learned,  he asked us to be baptized. I wasn't surprised, but I didn't expect it. It's become clear to me that as soon as any person exercises their agency to give our message a chance, and as soon as they open their heart-- the truth will be revealed. You just have to put forth a LITTLE effort to 'experiment upon our words.'

       We're starting to see more progress with the people we've been teaching. We are focusing hard on setting baptism dates and working with our members. (You have to practice what you preach, right?) Our ward missionaries are really gaining enthusiasm, and they've been helping us like never before. They're referring us to their friends and proselyting with us a ton. 

Love,

Elder Doggett

I'm happy you went to the Shulz's homecoming! Sounds like it was so powerful! And it's funny that you met Kinikini haha. I'm sure you remember how many times in my emails I have praised President Shulz. He did SO much for this mission. He's a very loving man.  Enjoy camping, I wish I could be there!

.....I JUST WISH WE HAD A HARVESTER"