.....the WATER came back on Friday. Best Birthday Present. Ever. :)

Zone conference. Last photo from the field???

Dear Family and Friends,

                This week was full of meetings and nearly void of proselyting.  We had our last mission leadership conference in Cape Coast on Wednesday and I bought all my souvenirs.  Inflation has been destroying the cedi still... things are going up so much.  But Mom, you may rest in peace because I found you a unity stand! :) Then we had a zone conference in Cape the next day, and I was sick in the morning because of chicken I ate from the street the day before.  But we made the trip okay, without incident. We were instructed by Elder Curtis of the Area Presidency and he was great.  He has a great sense of humor and a talent for speaking. We also heard from him on Saturday here in Assin Foso; he came for a leadership training that the stake president invited all the missionaries to.  I think that was the most powerful meeting, focused on 'Hastening the Work of Salvation", in respect to how the local auxiliaries and missionaries can work hand in hand.

                They finally cleared out the dead husk of the diesel tanker this week. They just put new tires on the trailer and drove it off! Haha. Our area still has the scent of diesel hanging around... not fun. I thought we were going to die in our sleep or something.  People are rebuilding their shops and stuff though, so no problems.  We didn't have water for a week since the fire because it damaged one of the main lines. But the WATER came back on Friday. Best Birthday Present. Ever. :) On that note, my b-day was just another day really.  Except I did get Lauren's package-- shout out!  I've been really enjoying the jerky and skittles. Nice combo.

                We have a powerful investigator named A, who has been converted to the restored gospel since before I came here to Foso.  She was found by the elders about 9 months ago, and the Spirit testified to her long ago that everything is true.  She is SO awesome!  A few weeks ago a [guy from another church] came proselyting near her home and he came to her.  She began to testify of the Book of Mormon and he got all mad and tried to Bible-bash her. Then the next day he got on the local info loud-speaker in the morning and preached against the doctrines of our faith, haha. She made him so mad. :)

                The incredibly sad part about her story is that her husband won't allow her to come to church. Why? Because their landlord is a member and she doesn't treat them, or the other tenants, well AT ALL. I won't go into details. A is staying strong though; just waiting until they move, then her husband will allow her to go, although she'll attend a different ward.  They're supposed to move this week. The husband means well, he doesn't want her to "learn how to insult people" haha.  There was a point where she wanted to leave him so she could move to Accra with her family and attend over there. Needless to say we strongly discouraged that; we know her husband will come around when the time is right. She gets so sad when we talk about baptism and such.  We read Mosiah 5 with her the other day to encourage her to endure, because she has definitely felt that 'change of heart'.  She will be such a staunch, immovable convert when the Lord's timing comes to pass for her.

                Yesterday she told us of a dream she had that night. She was walking somewhere when a man in a long robe came up to her and gave her a piece of papers and told her to read.  She unfolded it and found a scripture reference written thereon:   2 Tim 4:5. When she woke up she wrote it on her wall so as not to forget; she asked us to look it up when we came. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

                It's a seemingly random scripture, but it actually applies directly to her. Her spiritual situation has been very difficult; it often keeps her awake at night. But something she's been great at is exercising patience, or "enduring affliction".  She also shares the gospel with nearly everyone she meets.  The Lord was speaking directly to her with that scripture.  We helped her understand that surely He still communicates with His people through dreams, or visions, if he sees fit.  It can happen, according to our faith!

Love,

Elder Doggett