...a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate...

We have dedicated Branch Presidents in this District and I testify to this fact. Except for two presidents, they all were received in baptism less than 8 years ago. Four presidents have served for over 6 years, one for 4 years and the longest has faithfully served for over 9 years. Four are farmers who depend upon their labors in the fields to sustain themselves and their families; one is a school teacher who teaches at a high school. All five are sealed and are sustained by faithful wives. All have children but one couple who have been married for over 11 years with no blessing of children yet. All wives were converts to the Church and introduced to the gospel by their husbands. They are elect ladies, every one, and shoulder the rigors of being a support to their husband and Branch President. The demands upon these men for spiritual guidance, domestic instructions and church culture understanding are never ending. I have never heard a discouraging word from either them or their wives and children. All Branch Presidents are respected throughout their community and show compassion to all that come unto Christ, member or non-member. They dedicate all they have to the building of the kingdom and furthering the work of the Lord.

Though they are esteemed as leaders for Father in Heaven, they do feel persecution from outside jealous and misunderstanding community people and some even within their own congregation due to counsel about ones actions and words not becoming of a member. I have sat with each and heard their pleadings for the souls of their flock. I have witnessed genuine love and service to those that have despised the very presence of the president in their home. I have gazed upon a scene with compassion as Branch President has held members in his arms as they wail over loved ones who were lost to death.  I see them when they are persecuted by words from their own members for standing for the right and serving judgment in the Lord’s Church. I testify of their giving hearts and have observed delivered food stuffs from these men’s own meager pantries. They have worked a full day on their own farms and then walked to work on another brother’s farm before going home late at night without a word spoken to the sick brother who could not tend his farm. I have participated in harvesting another man’s farm so his family could eat a meal for the next few days and he being too sick to raise his head from his bed. I know of their priesthood power and authority as they have called down miracles through priesthood blessings bestowed upon their sick members. I have felt the spirit they bring to their earnest prayers for those missing from their Sunday meetings. I have seen one Branch President hand his only scriptures to a young man who was leaving on mission who could not afford 2 cedis as he boarded the bus. I have realized how these men shoulder their responsibilities – they truly wear the full armor of God.

These five men are special as are all Branch Presidents and Bishops throughout the world. Called of God, given keys to unlock the eternities and authority to direct, while living lives in a way to have power from on High to bless those they love and serve.  Oh how we are so blessed to feel their charitable spirits. May we always pray for our dear Branch Presidents and Bishops as they shoulder this heavenly mantel. They are forever “Bishops of our souls” as Peter taught, that I know with a surety. 

 

 

 

 

 

...did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren...

Transfer Days- love them and endure them! Every mission must have transfer days. With 140 missionaries to manage, the Mission President under inspiration moves a missionary for various reasons to new areas and companionships. Sister Dalton and I have the beauty of always being together as companions for the full 24 months and we are privileged to be assigned to Abomosu for the 24 months too. But our young elders and sisters expect to be transferred some time during their mission. It is healthy for change and becomes a growing experience. The Ghana Accra Mission encompasses the Eastern half of Ghana from north to south. We do not presently have missionaries in the northern part of Ghana, about half of the mission territory, due to our workforce and the Muslim influence. So the bulk of the missionaries serve in the lower part of the country around Accra. Accra and surrounding areas have over 16million people so missionaries never run out doors to knock. There are those of us who serve in the bush and northern part of that half of Ghana. Our zone consists of 22 elders and ourselves. These are trusted elders who because of distance and the conditions of the “bush”, depend upon the spirit for comfort, protection, and direction in the work maybe even more than in some other areas of the mission. We love them all and we see great “gnashing of teeth” when an elder is transferred from the Bush Zone. But, it fortunately happens to all of the young elders in this zone. That’s when our work becomes a driving endurance test for Sister Dalton and me.

We have just returned to our apartment after 787 miles of driving over a 2 day period, sometimes we have accomplished those miles in 1 day. Now those are rough days, indeed. Some may say that is no big deal but you have not experienced the trails and so called roads of the bush that we drive on here in Ghana. In our zone, when a missionary completes his mission serve, Sister Dalton and I transport the elder down to the mission home on Monday evening, usually arriving at the mission home about 8PM. The Elder is to be interviewed by the Mission President at 8AM on Tuesday morning. There are the customary check lists these elders know well before they are to fly out that evening. At 10AM we take them to the Ghana Accra Temple where they attend a session before leaving the mission. At 12:30PM we transport them back to the mission home where there is always a fine lunch for the departing missionaries followed by a most wonderful testimony meeting and the inspirational concluding remarks from our dear Mission President. Then its “hustle time” and we transport the missionaries to the airport for their various flights. We usually retire about 10PM when that day ends.

The next day new missionaries come into the mission from the Africa West Mission Home in Tema which is 30 minutes to the east of mission home. Then the real excitement begins. For those missionaries who are transferred to new areas, they make their way by taxi, or Trotro (taxi van) to the mission home to meet their new companions, arriving at the mission home between 11AM and noon. [In my younger days as a missionary, we would receive a call from the Assistants on Sunday night around 6PM informing us we were to be transferred to a new area. Monday morning by 7AM you, alone, where on a bus and traveling to the assigned area. The remaining companion would go back to the apartment and usually sleep until the time to go to the bus depot and pick up his new companion. I remember being transferred from the upper part of Michigan to the lower part of Illinois and it took 5 busses and 3 full days all alone. Buses in those days didn’t travel much at nights, so drivers would stop at a bus depot and the passengers would fend for themselves for the night. I always slept on a depot bench along with most of the other passengers.] All missionaries in our mission, come to the mission home for the transfer and it really is a scene to behold. Old companionships renewed with a hand shake and hug and much commotion is really had throughout the mission compound. It is really fun to witness and I always remember the passages in the Book of Mormon describing Alma and the Sons of Mosiah meeting after several years of challenges in their missionary service. It is much like that during the couple of hours of frenzy. Meanwhile, Sister Dalton and I are loading up the truck with the various supplies needed by our elders in the bush, mops & buckets, cases of pamphlets and Books of Mormons, Doxy medicine, and bikes. Yes, bikes! These bikes are used hard here in the Abomosu Zone. They have been repaired several times in their local areas but after several months, they need to be completely rebuilt at the mission home by a specialist. We always try to leave with our new missionaries by 3PM that day which means we will get home about 10PM or so. Most of the time, we look like the Clampets moving to Beverly Hills with bikes and luggage stuffed in the boot and tied on the rack and canopy of the truck. Oh yes, the most important “packages” is the mail for all of the missionaries in the bush. Then there are the 4 elders mashed in the back seat of our Ford Ranger, looking for a place to grab a bit to eat before the trip. We have learned to stop at one small fueling station and the missionaries like their meat pies and of course a Fan Ice to go. We have endured rain storms, floods, bad roads and darkness on these trips, but we have never heard a discouraging word along the way from these Elders. It is always a bit stressful for me as the driver carrying this most precious cargo, but I am always buoyed up with their stories and testimonies of the work they are doing. We feel blessed to be a part of this great mission and honored to transport our “Sons of Mosiah” back to the bush every six weeks when transfers happen. And so it was yesterday arriving home at 9:54PM.

 The Work is true and moving forward with great force from angels above as our guardians, I so testify. 

 

 

 

 

...whatever ye shall bind on earth, will be bound in heaven...

Postscript to May 8^th blog post

As Sister Dalton and I beheld the sealing of Amishaddi and Comfort Brobey, we marveled how this event had come to pass. It was at that moment the thought of “our time not being His time” meant even more to our hearts. Here was a sweet couple who in the winter of their lives, received this binding covenant bonding them through the eternities. Father in Heaven enlightened our minds to witness the heavens open and angels minister to their souls. Engulfed with the deep feeling of love and welcoming to the celestial glories, we wept as we embraced as sons and daughters in that sealing room, May 11, 2012, in the Ghana Accra Temple. At that very moment, time stopped for Sister Dalton and I as we felt the arms of Father and the warmth of His holiness. O how we love Him so!

 

...I esteem it as great worth...

Amishaddai Brobey set in the chair at the rear of the hall and bowed his head as if to ponder the reason he was there that Thursday afternoon. A sacred mediation befell him as he examined the small paper in his weathered hands. He is a little man, not standing more than 5 feet in stature, born 1931 and was showing his age of 80 years, retired farmer and school teacher who spends most of his time now, setting next to the building he lives and acknowledges the passersby. His friends have all passed on and 4 children have moved away from Abomosu years ago. They seldom visit he and Comfort his wife, except for holidays and prominent funerals of the village. He and Comfort are one of the faithful who every Friday evening makes their way to the chapel and cleans with several of our other senior members of the branch. It is a ritual for these very elderly who serve as keepers of the branch building. Though they may be slow and sometimes must set a spell to recapture a breath or two, they never fail to arrive for the weekly cleaning and the social atmosphere of the “keepers” of the Lord’s House. I contemplated the scene and looked over his printed record; born in Abomosu, married traditionally in 1962 to Comfort Korang who was 15 years old, both were baptized 1993, and he received the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1998. But today was special, for in his hand was a temple key with an attached page for live ordinances. Right then Comfort quietly shuffled into the hall and took her place by Amishaddai, acknowledging each other by their glancing eyes and without a word spoken. I marveled at this honorable and humble couple as they each held in their hands that small sacred paper that was most important for their eternal future which they knew all too well was on the horizon for them both. One by one they entered a room with the presiding authority and behind closed doors; each declared their worthiness to receive temple covenants and ordinances that will bind them through their everlasting lives of eternity. We graciously hugged as they parted together and began the walk down a path to their home; Amishaddai in priesthood attire and Comfort in a bright traditional wrap with a matching head scarf, side by side toward the closing sun. This Friday, May 11, 2012, Amishaddai and Comfort Brobey will each receive their own endowment and then kneel across an altar to be sealed for time and all eternity and their oneness will then be complete. Oh, what beauty Heavenly authority and Gospel truths bring to God’s worthy children.

                 

...I will go and do as the Lord commands...

Many years ago, Sister Dalton and I lived in the small community of Stanwood, Washington. It was a wonderful small town that all kinds of characters and memories raising 5 small children. Our binding power was the Stanwood Branch and the Mount Vernon Stake which was the foundation to the future of our children’s testimonies. There was a WW II B-29 Pilot who was the librarian along with a brother from Norway who was a seaman all of his life, a wonderful pair who our children dearly loved and looked forward to setting on their laps sometime during the meetings. There were those that were retired, those of us who had construction businesses, boat builders, private airplane owners, bankers, accountants, farmers, bakers, garbage men, city workers and sisters who worked at the cannery during the corn harvest time of the year. One family that I always admired was the Houssians. He was of Jewish descent and she was from small town America, Arlington City just a few miles away. They had a few children and were always at every activity, every service project and every church meeting required of them. He was a returned missionary and they had met at BYU and married in the Salt Lake Temple. He worked, but I never really knew what he did for a living and that was OK. They built a lovely home and were there when we moved to Edmonds, Washington some 40 miles south. At the same time we were in Stanwood, there was a very exemplary family who lived in Arlington who was Sister Houssian’s sister- Jack and Deloris Dickson. “Jack”, as we all called him, was the bishop in Arlington and then served as our Stake President for years until he was called to be the Mission President in Mexico City at age 37. They both loved the Lord and their example showed faithfulness with every fiber of their beings. They were truly loved by everyone in the Stake. Those were tender days of humble service in church callings and where much of my foundation for the love of the Lord’s work, began.

Over the years we have followed The Dickson’s church career as well as the Houssian family service for others. They have been remarkable to watch and feel their dedicated serve for the Lord’s work. President and Sister Dickson have served on every continent on the earth and are presently serving as our Africa West Area President here in Ghana. The Houssians have served 4 missions on virtually every continent on the earth also and are now serving here as the Africa West Area Family History Directors. All of our travels and experiences have begun in a small town in Washington State and now we all embrace 33 years later in Ghana, Africa as missionaries again. I have reflected on this “miracle” mission we are all involved with and testify there is no time that the Lord does not know of each of our strengths and what part of His vineyard we should cultivate. I testify of His hand in each of our lives and witness to the importance of being worthy and humble to accept His call. Though our hairs may be as snow, our testimonies burn with the love for all of Fathers children here in Africa. Sister Dalton and I feel so blessed to once again be taught by our dear friends and missionary companions once again. We truly love them all!