...he break bread and blessed it...

As I partook of Sacrament meeting today, my mind wandered as if to be taken to another place and time where I was in my young teenage years. Many faces around me brought back memories of sacred times attending like services. In my mind’s eye, I saw the faces of friends long gone to the world beyond and faces of past leaders who sheltered me from the worldly influences. We were all in a humble Sacrament meeting, as we were today. The speaker was a long departed brother who was an influence for good in my life. He was bearing testimony of prayer in his life and the truth that we can all have our prayers answered by Father in Heaven. I felt the Holy Ghost in my heart and knew in my mind I was not here alone. Those same stirrings and spiritual witness affected my soul today as I partook of the sacramental prayer. I looked around my setting, now in Abomosu, Ghana, and thought of the thousands of sacrament meetings that were taking place right at that moment, and how the Spirit was witnessing to all those that had prepared themselves to the truthfulness of the magnificent words offered over the emblems of His body and blood. I pondered on the setting of this eternal witness, and my setting here in Africa along with those of my past and others from around Fathers footstool. I had watched as five older men had shuffled into the chapel just before the beginning of the meeting. They were weathered from hard work on their farms, weathered from life’s relentless storms, they had endured. From life’s physical challenges that besiege us all after the fall and from living experiences that has meted out justice and mercy. They are pioneers who helped to establish the Church in Ghana. Yet their eyes gleamed with humble thanksgiving as they gently partook of the bread and water of life. Most had lost their wives over the years and are now enduring to the end for a place by their side in the heavens. My eyes looked to their spot and saw their heads nod as if to say, “I know the words of this ordnance are true and I have tested them in my life every day.” I watched the 4 young men reverently and in a sacred manner pass the emblems of our Savior, row after row. They were dressed in white shirts, hand tied neckties, and clean long pants, held up with a belt that wrapped around their waist twice because of the size; two of the four where shoeless. Not a word was spoken from the attendees, only quite inner reflection. My eyes passed over the sisters with colorful dresses and head scarfs covering their black hair; heads bowed in earnest humble prayer, their dresses hand sewn for such occasions of reverence and worship. Once again I marveled at the sacred nature of my setting and thanked God for this witness of his everlasting love for these humble people of the bush. A baby lying on her mother’s back, asleep, and wrapped tightly with love, as mother leaned forward with the comfort of the load. A young woman holding her younger brothers hand through the service to give that security of family and guidance; my eyes glanced into the eyes of a cripple man who conveyed his love for the ordinance he was a part of, today. His legs twisted and bent from birth, but through the help of a pole he uses for support, he attends every Sunday to receive the cleansing power of the Lord’s sacrament. I looked at Sister Dalton, who had head bowed and in deep thought of the moment. Was it just I who was seeing these witnesses of Christ in our service, I thought. Her head turned and I saw the tears in her eyes as she gently squeezed my hand.

I sense the strains of the world upon these faithful members, but witness the comfort and peaceful continence of my brothers and sisters here that attended our worship meeting today. How can God distill such tender mercies upon us all throughout the world in our services? Because he is God and His love is for all of his sons and daughters that live on his footstool. Our only duty is to come to this sacred gathering with a broken heart and contrite spirit to let Him in and wash our souls. I felt the Balm of Gideon and the soothing cleansing of the Saviors love today, as I set with angels.  

                

....and they made all things known unto their sons and daughters.

Over the weeks we have served here in Ghana, Sister Dalton and I have brought a Family Home Evening to all of the Branch Presidents and their families, the District Presidencies families, single mothers with their children and to a group of young single adults. Each week we have taught about helping hands for the little ones where we have traced their precious hands and cut them out, and colored them together and hung them in their homes. The lesson was geared to children with parent’s participating as we instruct. Sister Dalton and I have sung songs with the family and even closed each visit with a duet from us singing “Love At Home” or “Families can be Together Forever”; and always treats were brought by Sister Dalton. Those Family Home Evenings with older youth and adults we have shared a wonderful lesson about “blossoming where we are planted”. It has drawn us closer to each and every family or person we have shared with over the weeks. These are special times and even at time scared tender moments with a family or person. We have discussed what are some of their greatest blessings received as a family or single person. To our pleasant surprise we have not heard of a discouraging word from anyone. We have been buoyed up with their unique stories of courtship or church experiences. We have always felt especially blessed to be in their home and in their presences for those 90 minutes or so. We have learned the ways of God with pure faith in Him whom we serve. I testify of the Family Home Evening program that was instituted for our good and the impact it will have on the structure and formation of doctrine and principles. Father wants us to continually nourish our souls with the good word and feelings of God. Each week we plan and look forward to our Monday night visits to someone’s home, with great anticipation. There is something to be said about those bonding moments that only come with sharing a gospel message by the Spirit.

Sister Dalton and I have reminisced each week, as we have left those choice evenings, and traveled back to our home, about our own Family Home Evenings over our 39 years of marriage. I must admit we could have been better at our preparations and planning for sometimes our lessons were a wrestling match with the little ones. I know that at times we threw up our hands as parents and only had a Family Home Minute, but we now, after all of these years later, remember those tender moments of togetherness in our home. Children grow and one day will move on their own, your Family Home Evening can then be a tender sharing time, with your sweet spouse, filled with simple memories of those times we had invited the Spirit to our home on so many Monday nights. Those memories are so very vivid to Sister Dalton and me today, that we still feel those feelings of that very night when our preparation and planning did all come together and the Spirit smiled upon our home on a Monday night. We have wonderful children who feel and love the Lord with all of their hearts partly due to their Family Home Evenings that sometimes were only Family Home Minutes.

Our experiences here have strengthened our commitment to the Family Home Evening doctrine and principles. We are in an area where much of the family’s time is being together. The source of all food is from your labor in the family farm- as a family. Little ones are bundled to mothers back and the whole family works at the farm. Father and sons use large machetes to clear the bush and keep the jungle from taking over the patch of ground chosen to plant. Mother and daughters gently plant seedlings, raised next to their home, in carefully hand dug holes in straight rows. They pat the earth back with their hands and I’m sure a prayer is offered with each planting. Sometimes the Mother with baby on her back wields a machete alongside father who directs the efforts. They set together for minutes and speak of their blessings come from All Mighty God and thank him for his goodness to their family. This was the wonderful experience we had this past week.

Our Monday was filled with harvesting corn on the Asiedu farm. These are pioneers in the Abomosu district and have served well over the years. Gladys and Alexander have raised 6 children to the Lord and have sent 2 sons on missions. Four of the children were there that day as we harvested together, side by side with machetes in hand and planting for the next harvest. Corn stocks were piled and freshly cut corn carried, on their head in big pans by Gladys and her daughters to the road for pick up and transport to the family home for drying. All worked in the hot sun without complaint or grumblings. I particularly remember at the completion of the harvest (maybe an acre or so), father called all of his family to a corner of the field and we knelt to thank Father in Heaven for their bounteous harvest and to humbly ask for His continued favors with their new plantings. This was a powerful example of the doctrine of faith with the application of the principle taught, as we knelt in that bush field together as a family. I rose from that prayer and had tears in my eyes as did mother and most of the family members. I soon learned that this portion of their plot was especially precious to the family for they would sometimes have Family Home Evenings there and each year, as a family, at harvest time, they would always kneel and father would offer a prayer of thanks and humbly ask for favors over their farm. I felt I stood on hallowed ground as we talked for a few minutes. It was scared to witness this humble family who had united all things with their faith and prayers. As Sister Dalton and I walked home, we spoke of our experience and the blessing it was to share tender moments with such a dear family, only a short time ago we did not know  they had come to earth. Father had gently swallowed us up in his arms with his kindness for those precious moments alongside our brothers and sisters in the bush of Africa. We pray in your tender moments of reflection, you may be strengthened by simple acts of kindness, un-wavering faith and continued thanking God for all of your blessings.

...walking in His ways ....

Seth Oppong

Age: 38

Married to: Evelyn Agyeiwaa Oppong

3 children: Lawrencia, Tricia, Benedicta

Returned Missionary: Nigeria

Farmer, Taxi driver, World Joy Coordinator, Abomosu District President, Humble Man of God

                “There was a “Obruni” who came to my friend’s house one day and he had a glow about him. He wrestled with us and played with us with our football. My friend said they were preachers from the Latter-day Saint church. He took me to church that next Sunday and it was so good to be there. I told my father who quickly told me I would not go to that church ever again. I ran from home and cried because of what my father had said. Each Sunday thereafter my father would wake be at 4AM and insist I go to farm and work through the day so I would not go to that church. I hated him for his ways. At 8 years old I attended my friends’ baptism. The “Obruni” took my friend into a river and put him down into the water. I wanted to be there too. I felt the same feeling I did 2 years earlier when I went to church with my friend. I begged my father that night that I could join the Latter-day Saint church and he cained me and commanded me never to speak of it again. I still have marks from that caining on my body today. At nine years old I would put a clean shirt in a small black bag and hang it in a tree on my way to the farm early Sunday mornings before my father got up and went to the farm. At 10AM I would tell my father I would go and get water in the village for him and would be back by noon with his lunch and fresh water, he always liked that, and was pleased I was a good boy for him. I would run with all of my might to where I had hung the little black bag with a clean shirt. Change and run to the church where my friend was waiting for me. I loved the primary songs and the teachers were so kind. I did not know what kindness was from men. There was a senior man who always had a piece of candy for me and gave me a firm handshake and said “you will someday be a fine missionary for the church”. I loved that man and his kindness to this ragged little boy. Just before primary was over I would run to the river and fill a small bucket, pick oranges from another farmers trees and quickly change back into the farm clothes and run with all of my might back to the farm where father would be ready for his meal and cool drink. I did this for a number of times over the next 4 years and then confronted my father again about becoming a member of the Latter-day Saints congregation. I was stronger and determined to defend myself if I needed to for I had known the feeling of God the first time I saw the “Obruni” when I was 6 years old. The feeling was still in my soul at 16 and I was going to be baptized with or without my father’s consent. He denied my request and I ran to our farm and cried unto the Lord for his help and comfort.

                My final school year I turned 20 and it was my last year at High school and I was very well known throughout the region as an excellent footballer with potential to go to greater schools that wanted my talents. It was during that last year of schooling, away from home, I found two missionaries who came to our school and I told them I wanted to be baptized into their church. They arranged to teach me the lessons and I said let’s start now, I will forgo schooling to be a member of the Latter-day Saints church. April 19th 1992 I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What can I say but the Lord has blessed me beyond my dreams! He knows me and loves me too!” (at this point tears where streaming down his cheeks and the spirit bore witness of his love for Father in Heaven)

“I wanted to go on a mission to show God I was committed with all of my heart and soul to always love Him. I worked with my machete as a hired hand for farmers clearing the brush from their farms. I worked all day and into the night so I could earn the money for my mission. Football was something that would need to wait, I was preparing for a mission for God. I earned all of the needed money working sometimes days straight through. I praised the Lords help and for giving me strength. He sustained me over 2 years while a birth certificate was issued, the cost of a passport, the cost of clothing as well as a leather bound set of scriptures I hold before you this day. These are so precious to me and I testify they will bring you the greatest joy found here on earth. The day came and I was called by the Lord’s holy prophet to serve in Nigeria for 2 years and it was truly a call I had prayed for since I had attended those primary meetings when I was 9 years old. Oh, how the Father knows our names and loves us all.” Seth Oppong

                The story above was a "tender mercy" moment during a district meeting. I witnessed this humble man’s testimony of who guides the growth of the church in the Abomosu District, and how through small and simple things the work moves along under the watchful eye of the Savior. Seth Oppong is well known throughout the region because of his love for all people and his vision for the church members. He has served as branch president, served as a counselor to 2 previous District Presidents, a teacher of church government, and he is an example of the power and authority of the priesthood in his leadership hands. Farmer, taxi driver, World Joy coordinator, Abomosu District President, humble man of God, and my friend forever. 

...awaken you to the sense of your duty to God...

Some of our suffering is of the Lord’s, for his purposes. I witnessed that this past week as I traveled over 2 hours to a regional hospital in Alwatia. There one of our members from Asuom had lain, without relief, for over a week. She is a faithful woman that has supported her husband as a branch president and been a pillar of strength for the small Asuom Branch. I had met this woman once before and felt of her spirit. My visit was planned and the District president, branch President and her husband made the trip with me to be there at the appointed day and hour. This sister had been poisoned by a local witch doctor and his herbal remedies for her ailment. A lower back pain was her symptom and now she was in the hospital fighting for her life, unable to stand or walk and with severe stomach pains. The drive was pleasant but there was some caution in her husband’s voice at time when we spoke of her condition.

We arrived to a barred compound with armed guards. I depended upon the brethren and their expertise to guide me through the customary steps to enter. We were asked our business, the length of our stay and the appointed time documents to support our appearance at the gate. All conversation was done in Twi so most of their speaking I did not understand. We were guided to a parking stall within the compound. Again another guard ask for our documents and then escorted us to another higher ranking guard to verify our stated business. I followed between both the district president and the branch president as to not get lost or singled out. We were told to wait in a small waiting area in one of the wings of this hospital. I asked the husband what was all of the communication going on with all of the guards and particularly the head guard who seemed to be pondering the conversation and looking at me directly. I was told that the only way we could enter the compound and visit this woman was due to me being a white man from America who was an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All were told I was sent here to visit with this woman and heal her so she could return home. Each guard had been told the same story as they inspected the paperwork. I felt weak as I pondered my assignment as outlined by my traveling companions. Thoughts of worthiness, exactness to the usage of the priesthood, and what was now expected of an Elder in the Church filled my heart and mind. It was the longest 3 or 4 minutes of my life. I was praying to Father with all of my soul for this woman and to fulfill Fathers will. The guard returned and with a number of medical staff, and we were escorted to a portion of that wing where this sweet sister lay. Her countenance was dim and her eyes were bloodshot. A heavy fever was detected as I lightly caressed her hand in mine. Her body seemed weak and each breath was a labor. My eyes filled up with tears as her eyes looked into mine and with a whisper from her parched lips said, “the priesthood is here”. It was a moment I shall never forget.

At that very moment, a whispering from the Spirit told me, “give my vile of consecrated oil to the District President.” As I did, the president looked at me with a bewildered look and leaned forward and whispered in my ear,” Elder, you do understand your mission here? We have told all of the guards and the medial staff you would heal this woman from her ailments. They are gathered around to witness your healing.” I put my arm around him and replied, “ There are 4 brethren here with more power and authority to heal this faithful woman than all of the doctors in this hospital combined, it only takes 2 of you to authorize the healing from the greatest healer of all, the Savior himself. And President, remember this sister has more faith than all of these non-believers who are watching.” I then turned to her caring husband and whispered in his ear, “you will be sealing the anointing and pronounce a blessing of healing upon your loving companion, by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.” I gently squeezed them both and took a step back into the crowd.

There were 20 or so sick women in that room who heard that a white man from America would heal this woman today so they were all attentive to our presence where she lay. Guards and medical nurses surrounded her corner all with wondering of how this could happen under their watchful eyes. “By the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, I anoint your head…..” Then three humble Ghanaian servants of the Lord, placed their hands on this most faith-filled daughter of Father and sealed the anointing and pronounced a most powerful blessing. I stood silently with the crowd and at one point opened my eyes, fully expecting to see angels administering to that humble women’s ward in a regional hospital in Ghana.  Tears flowed down the cheeks of guards, the medical staff, and other sick and afflicted in that room. I gave humble thanks for the scene that had transpired under the direct of the Holy Spirit. Hearts were softened, minds put at ease, and spirits lifted to greater heights than previously dreamed. Just before we were to depart for our journey home, I leaned down and hugged this fine woman and gazed into her now crystal clear eyes. She sat up in bed and praised the Lord for her heavenly blessing and then, oh, so reverently pulled me close, and kissed my cheek. “Sweet sister, I said, thank you for your faith and the blessing you have brought into our lives.”