" One of my favorite scriptural promises concerning the Lord's forgiveness is in Isaiah: 'Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' That's the power of the Atonement."

Ghanaian electrician

Email from March 31, 2014:

Dear Family and Friends,

            Well. I have only six months left. 75% of my mission is now behind me. I have mixed feelings about that. I can't believe Matt and Ben [cousins] are home already! This week was entertaining though. One day we heard this lady screaming outside the apartment. The other guys ran out to see what was up and she had found a snake as she was sweeping in the weeds next to her house. Haha! Elder Moore killed it with the cutlass and started scaring small children. Classic. Also, Elder Larsen has been teaching us how to lasso! He made a bunch of little lassos with some parachute cord he brought with him. I'm getting pretty good at it……when Elder Moore was eating the other day I snatched his drink away from him, haha. It's getting kinda out of hand..

            Some weeks ago we received a powerful referral from a member. He expressed interest in the church to him, so he lined it up to meet with us. He was reading a Fante Book of Mormon and was very receptive to our lessons--- now he's running from us and we don't know why. It's childish really, we call and set up an appointment which he promises to keep. Then we sit and wait for 30 minutes and find that he is nowhere to be found. This week we surprised him by finding him at the bar. He said he would go grab his BOM and meet with us. Disappeared. This man is getting to 40 years of age and he's acting like he's 12. It's sad. He's removing himself from salvation and choosing not to be blessed. He knows our message is true, he's intelligent. But he won't even give us a chance or respect to discuss his concerns with him, whatever they may be.

            I wish everyone were more like I.! We taught him about agency this week from 2 Ne 2. He said the lesson answered some outstanding questions he had in his mind. He also said he's making progress on solving his situation; he knows it's all up to him. As he considers those he loves, he wants to make it possible for them all to "come to the house of the Lord". I love I., he's so conscientious and he's very aware of the big picture in life. I'm impressed with the way he's handling things. He's walking with the Lord every step of the way. He's extremely mature and will make a powerful leader in the church when his time comes.

            The ward is having some planning/organization/communication issues that are becoming pretty frustrating. We were supposed to have missionary Sunday yesterday, and five minutes before the meeting as we sat on the stand, they informed us that, 'today is actually Relief Society Sunday, so next two weeks will be for you'. We had talks prepared and everything. I won't bore you with details, but this ward is having some major difficulties…From serving here….. I have made some goals to make sure I never shirk my duty.

            Love,

Elder Doggett

Drenched elders

Email from Mar. 24, 2014:

Dear Family and Friends,
    This morning a storm was brewing as we prepared to launch out for Takoradi. One minute into the excursion and we were surrounded in the swirling torrents of an African monsoon. We took cover under a random awning on a secluded shop, but the rain began to fall sideways. Elder Larsen and I crouched and held our umbrellas, making a wall like the Spartans in 300. The action got too heavy, and we had to retreat and fall back to the apartment. Upon arrival, we realized that two were missing in action, Elders Ma'afu and [the other Elder] Larsen. We launched a rescue mission and found them hiding in an unfinished building. Mission successful. Elder Moore filmed it.
    Elder Moore is training Elder Mocke, a South African from Johannesburg. I think he's the first white South African in our mission. He's a cool guy, he plays lots of rugby, so Elder Ma'afu is happy, haha. Our apartment this transfer is so sweet, Elder Moore is hilarious.
    This week we received some sad news about our investigator I. He confessed to us that he has two wives.  After marrying his first wife and having 8 children, he saw that she wasn't willing to pull her weight in the relationship. He wanted to work harder in life and move things forward, so after a few years of discussion and consideration, he took another wife.
    He explained how he didn't do it for selfish or fleshly reasons, but he loves both of them. He knows though, that it's wrong in the sight of God. He said that he felt to tell us about this last week, but he suppressed the feeling. Then in church this week someone said something that again pricked his heart, and he knew he had to tell us. I could see the humility in him. He already knew that he'd need to divorce one wife if he wants to be baptized. I could see the internal struggle flowing within him. He really does care for both of them.
    Now, I wasn't expecting this information, but it didn't surprise me either. Plural marriage is fairly common here; for various reasons it is practiced. It's a tradition for village chiefs. I.'s not a chief, though. He's a really sincere man. We had him read Jacob 2 in the Book of Mormon and to pray for guidance. This is a hard choice to make, he shouldn't make it alone.
    Personally, I was very happy he confided this to us. It shows he trusts us. I'm glad we didn't have to coax it out of him or something. It's good that we still have time to sort this thing out. Thinking back to when we set his baptism date-- it seemed like a long time especially for someone such as him. Normally we'd baptize someone like him super fast, which in his case would be bad. Now I know why we felt prompted to give him a further date. It's funny how the Lord does that; he knows best. He knows His sheep. The fact that I. confessed to us shows that he wants to change, which is the entire point of God's plan.
    We called President the next day and he said we can't encourage I. to divorce because it would put the church in a bad light in the eyes of the wife. He may just have to wait. When we saw I. again, he was miserable. He had been thinking himself sick all night and he told us how he had wept over the subject. It's so sad to see. He has the full desire to make a covenant with his God, but because of past sins in ignorance he can't do that right now. He's met with Bishop now and they've discussed his options. It's all his choice, so we will continue to teach him and everything. It will just take time.
    One of my favorite scriptural promises concerning the Lord's forgiveness is in Isaiah. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." That's the power of the Atonement.

Love,

Elder Doggett

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK IN GHANA

Welcome to 1947!!

Dear Family and friends,

            Happy St. Patty's Day! And it's Elder Ma'afu's birthday. I think we're just gonna relax, we haven't done a lot of that. We met the funniest guy on the street the other day. He just stopped us and started introducing himself, "Hello, I'm *James Mensah. SERGEANT James Mensah. Sekondi Prisons. Haha it was hilarious, I immediately thought, "Jack Sparrow, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. From the Black Pearl." He seemed to be very proud that he was a sergeant.

            I just heard that my son [the missionary he trained], Elder Cowan is training this transfer. I'm gonna be a grandfather! Haha, how exciting. So for transfers my comp and I are both staying. The Eshiem elders are getting whitewashed and Elder Moore is coming to our apartment to die training. I'm excited; he's so fun to be around. I can't believe he only has 2 transfers left though. We just can't stop the clock.

            Our investigator I. told us this week after a lesson, "So I've been going around to all the members that I know, just getting to know them and visiting small small." I said, "So, you're home teaching already?" He said, "What?" Hahaha, I just can't describe to you how awesome this guy is. I honestly think he will be a huge strength to the ward. He's already telling us of people he has in mind to share the gospel with, and he's already started. I'm very happy that I'm staying in the area, so I can see him get baptized and become a full member.

            The highlight of our week was when Elder Vinson, the 2nd counselor in the West Africa Area Presidency, toured our mission. He met with Takoradi, Sekondi, and Kojokrom Zones. He's the first native Australian to be called as a general authority, and he's sporting a sweet accent. As he addressed us, he gave tons of great advice. Notably, he gave us ideas on how to help investigators keep commitments and grow closer to Christ. We need to follow up on every commitment we extend; that's how we fulfill our purpose as missionaries. We invite people to act, not to be acted upon. This was really good for us to hear because me and my comp were recently discussing how we could be better at following up.

            Elder Vinson also relayed an experience he had to accompany Elder Holland as he assigned missionaries to where in the world they would serve. He said that Elder Holland occasionally went back and changed certain individuals' assignments after having moved on, because he felt the initial one was wrong. The call comes from the Lord, but the assignment may be changed. Even more so, Elder Holland assigned a few select missionaries directly to a specific mission president. He's the head of the missionary department, so he knows all the presidents. I found that incredibly intriguing, because I have often thought that President Shulz is one of the many reasons I was sent to Ghana. He is the most merciful man I have ever met. He believes in second chances. My mother wrote her testimony for me to open when I entered the field, saying, "...you have a mission president that Heavenly Father hand-picked for you, for this time of your life as a missionary. He is a wise man with many years of experience serving in the church and gives counsel and rules for a reason." Mom, you may have had the spirit of revelation when you wrote that, haha.

            President Shulz is truly inspired. I've always felt that I was exactly where the Lord wanted me to be, in every area I have served. President has absolutely turned this mission around. Things used to be a lot different here. The entire spirit of the Ghana Cape Coast Mission has changed dramatically.

*Names have been changed

Ward Mission Leader and Elder Doggett on way to a funeral

One intense rainstorm!

SWEET INVESTIGATOR & OPEN GRAVES

Dear Family and Friends,

             Last week right as we started emailing, the power went out in Takoradi. As well as the water. This past week was just full of power and water problems in our apartment, so much so that I don't care to detail. It really put a damper on our work this week, though. We had to borrow water from the neighbors' wells to even do our wash. I even took a shower in a rainstorm this week. Again, we won't go into detail, but I'll say it was an experience, haha. You have no idea how good you have it in the States.

            Also last Monday, we had a District Activity at the Julanders' place and we watched Ephraim's Rescue. (Sorry Mom, you don't get the pleasure of a grand reveal) It was a powerful movie. I remembered many of the stories of my third great grand-daddy that Mom had told me. I had tears in my eyes multiple times. I was impressed that they were able to make the movie more light-hearted than the previous one, yet retain the severity of what the pioneers went through. In light of our own problems that we've been having, I know that there is a reason I was not an early saint. I will take all the spiritual, mental, and emotional stress over the physical, haha. 

            So something that people do here, and have done in the past, is build villages and things over old graveyards. Mpintsin is a good example of that. While proselyting with a ward missionary this week, we passed along a road and found a hole broken into a cement box in the ground, with big tracks from a truck tire going over it. You could see that the driver was trying to cut a corner, and did so a little too close. I commented, "Well, this one has a head start on the resurrection." I was about to keep moving when our ward missionary said, "Whoa, wait, look." You know how you're supposed to dig graves 6 feet deep? Yeah, they didn't do that for this one. You know how you're supposed to bury someone in a coffin? Yeah, they didn't do that either. It was a very old grave, so we saw nothing TOO gruesome, but it was a tad bit surprising.

            I read the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob chapter 5 sometime this week…..the chapter that everyone despises. But as I read, I realized how perfect it was! It exactly details the history of Israel: scattering, gathering, restoration. After reading the Old Testament, everything in that chapter made so much sense. Actually, EVERYTHING in the gospel makes sense if you've read the Old Testament. It gives you a real solid background on the history of things.

            I have an observation to make about our sweet investigator, I. He is seriously being led by the Spirit. It teaches him more than we do. He often says something along the lines of, "I was reading (or thinking) and a thought came to me that..." then he proceeds to detail some gospel truth that we know, and he's just figured out. It's pretty impressive, really. A few times he has quoted modern-day scripture almost word for word, and he doesn't even know it. We've started reading 1st Nephi with him and he is absolutely loving it. He enjoys history, so he's picking out all these connections to the Bible, like King Zedekiah, Jeremiah, and stuff. He's good at likening scriptures to himself, too. He's progressing swiftly, and has a baptism date for the end of March.

Love,

Elder Doggett

Funny, we actually had a lot of rain this week.... coincidence? [His mom told him she was praying for rain in West Africa!]

 

A Ghanaian wedding

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