11-27-17 "Medawaase Paa - I thank you very much"

Happy thanksgiving to all! :) Thank you for reading this and for putting up with my interesting grammar and english for all these emails! :)

This week had some good and had some not so good. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast! We bought, killed and cleande a turkey ourseleves (thank oyu Elder Erickson for te knowlede about cleaning animals). We ran it over to our members bakery on Wednesday morning and cooke it for about 5 hours. Bought it home, cut it up, stred the meat for the next day. Then Thursday, we made mashed potatoes and fried ripe plantain (that's te Ghana twist of our Thanksgiving) and wow, it was delicious. Cant believe i missed the smeel of turkey so much util we brouht it home from the bakery. Wow. Thanksgiving is wonderful :)

We got to watch  the Face2Face with ELder Oaks and Elder Ballard on SUnday, and wow, it was so wonderful. The Spirit is so strong in those meetings, and i love hearing the experiences of the Apostles, because seriously they are so wise. :)

We played soccer against the Ejisu branch on Saturday, and they even let me play for the beginning! It was a ton of fun, but wow, i am out of shape running wise, and thew sun here is so hot, i thoihgt i was going to cook!!! XD ahhahaa It wasa ton of fun, and we ened eup winning 6-3 to take back the vicotry from them from last year. IT was a ton of fun! :)

I got to do a baptismal interview this week too in Asamang, about 45 minutes away from us. Always love doing those interviews, love getting to know how people came to know what we share is true and how thy are practicing it in their lives, and the blessings that they see!  :)

Well, we had 2 baptisms this week also, they were both part-member families, TWI speaking also. We had a little bit of stress trying to meet with them and coordinate members to help us translate, but it all worked out!  Both were baptized, and we have another baptism service coming up on the 9th, so we are pumped for that! :)

Anyways, my thought this week comes from John 21:15-17 which reads :

15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

I take away 2 lessons that work together from this passage. The first, are we so preoccupied with our own lives that we forget to do our part in the Lord's work? Are we too busy to reach out and to lift another? We can all do our part to reach out and lift another, to share with them something as simple as a smile or a small act of service. As a missionary, we look for any and every opportunity to serve or help wherever we can, but I know that I can definitely be more spirtually sensitive to those opportunities as they come.

The next lesson is directed toward home teaching. Home teaching is a struggle here, but this passage really hit me this week of how important home teaching is. The Lord's authorized servants have prayed for and selected families for each of us to visit, to lift and to bless. The Lord pleaded with Peter to "Feed my sheep" and He too asks us to do the same. He has trusted us with His work, even to help our fellow brothers and sisters. All of us go through tough times of distress, failure, disappointment, worry, and need someone to talk to about it and to help us. Those would be our home teachers or visiting teachers. There are many miracles to be had as we feed His sheep. For those who are not yet home teachers or visiting teachers, or are not members of the church, any act of service to another is an act of service to the Lord.  Please, if you have not watched this video about Christlike service and looking for opportunities to lift and bless, please go and watch this video produced by the Church.



Video: A Good Samaritan

Love,
Elder Wawro