Dear
precious family and friends,
I
write today with a lot of mixed emotions! I have had some of the most precious
experiences of my entire mission this week (which I hope to be able to relate
in this letter) but I am also quite disappointed to write that I received news
yesterday that I am being transferred away from this area this Wednesday. Some
missionaries going home caused the need for a few missionaries to be switched
around and I happened to fall into that bunch… I wasn’t planning for any
transfer till the 26th of November, but when the Lord calls, I will
go (I guess… haha). I will be going to be companions with my friend, Elder Okwu
(Nigerian) whom I lived with here in Asamankese a transfer ago. The area is
called Kaswa I believe. Should be exciting! I am really looking forward to the
work the lord has in store for me there despite the sad feelings I have about
leaving behind precious Asamankese. (Momma Fairwell this is Elder Legg getting
in the middle of Elder Fairwells email. I love you)
Let
me start by telling you a bit about sister E., the woman we were able to
baptize this weekend. It was not an easy week for her! She is a very educated
and smart woman who understands our teachings so well, she has been preparing
to be baptized for a number of weeks now. Last week Friday, the weekend prior
to her baptism, her uncle got very sick and she had to travel out of town to
help take care of him. To us, she basically just dropped off the face of the
earth because she wasn’t at home when she usually was, her phone was not
picking up and she wasn’t returning our phone calls and our normal appointments
she still wasn’t around. She didn’t come to church Sunday (the first time in
nearly 7 weeks) and we hadn’t heard from her at all. Elder Legg and I were
pretty concerned. Tuesday we finally got a hold of her and she let us in on a
few details over the phone but explained that she “wasn’t sure about the
baptism that weekend” but that she wanted to discuss is Wednesday evening at our
branch midweek activity. She didn’t show up at the activity nor pick up her
phone so again, my companion and I were pretty concerned. Thursday we finally
get to sit down with her in the evening. I hope I have set up a good background
to this story!
We
begin the lesson and she tells us her concerns. Thankfully, nothing to do with
the church or joining the church, but rather some family problems, a bit of
disapproval and persecution from the family, and also some persecution from her
old pastor and church members. She said her mind “wasn’t settled” and that she
was considering waiting till another date till everything could be perfect. I
was impressed with the strong prompting Elder Legg and I both felt that she
needs to be baptized THAT weekend and that postponing the date would not be the
right thing to do. We explained to her our reasoning and she agreed also that
she would prepare for the 25th. I felt impressed that she needed
spiritual confirmation that this was Heavenly Father’s will, not just two
young, gun-hoe missionaries wanting to baptize her. I invited her to
kneel down with us right now and ask for that confirmation right now. The
experience was incredible.
I
learned what it means to have a sincere heart and to earnestly plead and wrestle
with the Lord as she prayed for those 8-10 minutes. It was such a beautiful
prayer, but also one of so much anxiety for me as the missionary. She was
asking for an answer right then during the prayer, but my companion and I were
feeling that answer POWERFULLY already, but she wasn’t recognizing it. We
weren’t sure if we should stop her in the middle of the prayer and explain that
there is a peaceful feeling that is almost tangible in the air and that it WAS
her answer, and it was a definite YES, or if we should let her continue seeking
for whatever feeling or voice she was looking for. I remember feeling not to
doubt her pleading to even “hear a voice” but to trust and have faith that
anything is possible. About at this moment, something comparable to a spiritual
bullet train blew through us and I thought that possibly I was being lifted up
to join the city of Enoch. Elder Legg and I felt such a burning of the bosom as
we had never felt before that we both could have fallen down if we weren’t
already kneeling. Sister E. so gently and quietly and peacefully said
“thank you” multiple times after that, obviously she too had felt the
confirmation but hadn’t been so swept away as my companion and I. Rolling
thunder rumbled through the sky at that very moment despite the completely
cloudless sky and starry night. We had now even heard heavens approval.
As we then discussed afterwards her feelings, she explained that a calm peace
had come over her and she now felt her mind settled as it hadn’t been for weeks.
She and we marveled at the powerful answer that her loving God had given her
that night.
As
I pulled her up out of the water that Saturday, the spirit again swept over us
both and she just stood there with her hands over her face overcome with
emotion. I remember standing with her there smiling, probably a very wide and
goofy grin, but being filled with joy and thinking the words given to each
missionary from the prophet in his call letter, “greater joy than you have ever
experienced awaits you…”. As I proceeded to baptize others that day, the words
“having been commissioned by Jesus Christ” stuck to me more than ever before.
THIS is what Christ has commissioned me to do. THIS was what it was all about.
And THIS is that great joy that I was promised. I treasure these experiences
more than I ever could have imagined.
I
also had some incredible experiences while teaching this week in our new little
village, Franta. We were able to go there all of Saturday afternoon and teach
about 7 different families. We made return appointments with many more families
and have a great melckezidek priesthood holder father who will be coming to help teach
them again this Saturday. Our only barrier is that many of these poor
farmers will struggle to actually come and attend the church. It is about a 1.5
hour walk to our nearest branch or a small fee 1.8 ghc to take a car. Our
prayer is that we can prepare and plant many seeds while finding those few
capable families that will be able to travel the distance and become the foundation
for a branch to someday be built in that area. We will see!
As
we were preparing to leave the village around 6:30 PM as the sun began to set
and also as dark storm clouds and a very brisk wind began to set in, we
discovered that the last tro-tro had already left earlier than usual and that
no other cars were planning to be going towards Asamankese that night. We were
stranded out there… and a heavy storm was coming in… it was looking pretty dim
for us as we began walking the 1.5 hour walk to Asamankese after a very
long and tiring day. Needless to say, we weren’t too excited as the wind picked
up and sideways rain was imminent from the coming storm. Even calling the
couple missionaries to come pick us up was out of the question because they had
traveled to Accra that day. Just as rain began to fall, taxi lights came into
view heading the opposite way. As we stopped it, we discovered that he would be
dropping and then coming back towards Asamankese! Our prayers were answered!
Also,
we wore long sleeved shirts to help suppress the miniature biting flies this
week. Thank goodness because I have roughly 47 bites on my fingers and hands
alone! What would have happened if my entire arm was exposed! In my new area we
will be away from the bush and away from those devil flies, thank
goodness. :)
Today
our zone traveled to meet up with another zone to play some basket ball and
football. It sure was a lot of fun! We are all extremely sun-burnt in areas
that we aren’t used to showing skin (collars and legs and necks). It was so
sweet for me to see Elder Bowering and also The Berretts. It has been a very
exciting P-Day but I sure am tired! Haha
Well,
if only I could tell you the other wonderful experiences we had this week.
Maybe another day. Although I was so excited to have a most wonderful lesson
with our married family of 4 kids and to have them accept a baptismal date of
November 15th! All of them should be baptized that day, with the
exception of the 2 small twins who aren’t quite 8 years old yet. I am pretty
bummed, actually very very sad that I won’t be here to witness that special day
for them. I am grateful to have been able to meet them and to be with them
during this entire teaching process! They are in good hands :)
Other
notable events that took place this week include: A police officer
arresting one of our class members during church for stabbing someone that
morning… our branch president feeding us so much fufu and requiring that we eat
it that we almost died… an exchange with elder moyer… teaching a man who, after
reading two verses from the BOM sincerely pleaded with us to give him a copy…
and more experiences that im pretty sure i’ll remember later! Till next week
you can trust that I’ll be busting my rear end and having fun in this glorious work.
Thank you for all the encouragement and support, I sure do need every bit I can
get.
Elder
Fairwell
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