"...feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace..."

Shoes are an important part of a missionary’s attire, though not an important part of a Ghanaian’s wardrobe. Scriptures share with us that Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine with “…shoes I am not worthy to unloose…” and so it is with shoes worn by our missionaries in the bush. I feel some days like John who uttered those words generations ago by the river Jordan. Our shoes see some of the toughest terrain known to man. The reddish clay dirt we experience, sticks like glue to your sole, especially when it rains. The standing water, at times, is negotiated with wading the deep in your normal stride. Days of heat and dust take their toll on everyone’s footwear and will leave your legs and feet with a coating of dust and grime. Weekly polish and sometimes daily polish are part of a missionary’s routine, yet there is another sign that will tell a story of the day’s activities- prayer. Missionaries kneel and pray a number of times per day along with their investigators, and very seldom on anything but mother earth. The polish is ground off during the day by just kneeling to pray with members and nonmembers alike. I hear no complaints, no grumbling of polishing shoes on a daily basis, no murmuring of sticky clay during the rainy season, just bright shiny shoes leaving the house in the morning and dirty scuffed weathered shoes after a day of service in the vineyard. O that one day I may be worthy to wash His feet with my tears of joy and thankfulness as I hear his voice utter “…well done my faithful son”.

 

...who I call, I qualify and will sustain their faith...

   Vivian Kumedrzo was baptized 10 September 2011. She was 22 years old and in her first year of High School attending Kwabeng Secondary School. The missionaries were referred to her by a classmate who was her friend in the boarding school. With help from the branch president who was a teacher at the school, Vivian embraced the Gospel teachings and has blossomed in the Church. She was called to serve as a counselor in the Young Women presidency, and faithfully attended to her duties and taught inspired lessons from the manual. Her ability to read and write English was most needed in the Young Women organization.     Within nine months, she was called to be the 2^nd counselor in the Relief Society along with two other sisters who had only been members of the church a year before Vivian was baptized. She was counseled to be humble and the Lord would make her an instrument in His hands. With that blessing, she continued her faithful service to the Lord and His saints in Kwabeng. Her efforts at school brought two other girls to the Gospel truths and they were baptized before the end of the school term. May 5, 2013, 14 months after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, two weeks before she passed all of her exams and received a certificate of completion for Secondary Schooling, I was present as she was sustained as the Kwabeng Branch Relief Society President. Hands were raised tall as her name was read by the new Branch President whose wife had filled that position prior to his new assignment. O what a grand testament to the words of the Lord “…who I call, I will qualify and sustain their faith.”

   Yesterday, I witnessed this young lady stand and accept the thanks and gratitude by the whole Kwabeng Branch, as they once again raised their hands in support while she was released as the Relief Society President. She had accepted a call from the Prophet of God to serve faithfully for 18 months on a full time mission. Eyes were filled with tears after that meeting, as embraces were exchanged and loving support was promised for their beloved Vivian Kumedzro who loved them all, unconditionally. For truly she is an Angel among us.

The above picture shows Vivian in the middle and her heavenly glow to the entire world.

 

 

...all things known unto their family...

In our home in Provo, we have a small hallway leading to our bedroom. Over the years we have used those walls as our walls of fame. The east wall is filled with family pictures, some of past generations, some of not so past family pictures and always a current family picture, rather large, as the center piece. Sister Dalton and I cherish those pictures on that wall; it is our favorite part of our entire home. We have walled by those pictures for years and occasionally we will add or adjust the positions of those family generation images. When preparing to leave for our mission, the east hallway wall, were the last items we moved to storage. When we returned for a brief time, we did not rehang those beloved pictures for we knew we would be there for a very short 6 weeks. We shared our feelings between us, that we were occupying our own home, yet we did not feel at home. We spoke of the absence of so many pictures that brought floods of memories that came to our hearts and to all that entered our home; from our own parents to the youngest of our grandchildren. That simple wall has brought hours of stories and tender experiences passed down through words and a physical photo of those long gone before our eyes. Pictures have a way of capturing the real family struggles, successes, happiness and sadness’s as we labor together towards unity and perfection.

I carried with Sister Dalton and me two precious pictures from that wall of family prominence; our wedding picture and our most current family portrait. The wedding picture was the first to be placed on my nightstand next to our bed, and the family picture hangs next to the opening of our great room. Few people have seen the wedding picture while we have lived here, yet I have gazed upon that picture each night before retiring, and thought of the divine blessing I have experienced that day along her side. The family picture has been appreciated by General Authorities, Area Seventy’s, Mission Presidents, District Presidencies, and the simplest disciples of the Abomosu District. All have related to this most prized picture on our wall. It was the second picture I put on the wall after a favorite picture of the Savior surrounded by perfect loving children. When we left this home to fly home last May, our family picture was the last picture I took down from our walls and found a space in our luggage where it would be secured. At customs in New York airport, our suitcases were opened and examined, twice, and each time our family picture was in full view to the agent. Both agents commented as they gently placed the framed picture back into the suitcase, “O what a nice family. I’ll bet you love them dearly.” We would respond with a firm “yes” and Sister Dalton would then express to them that they were waiting on the other end of our flight to greet us.

I am humbled with the importance of family. It is universal for all mankind upon the world. The feelings of belonging to something grander than ourselves, and the need to share with those that are dear to us, is a bonding link we came to earth feeling. I’m sure Heavenly Father feels those feeling towards each of his spirit children and his earthly children that will one day return to His loving arms. It is my solemn desire to return with honor with every member of our family; all members of our family no matter what sphere they live. Just a simple picture can stir our lives and weave life experiences into a family tapestry that will last forever.

 

...Jesus is the master of my soul...

Raising rice in Africa is very difficult, at best. The type of rice grown here is a dry farming, light brown long grain rice and is grown in the bush areas of which we live. It is a very time consuming crop for farmers and few grow this type of rice. Yet it is a very lucrative cash crop, second only to Cocoa beans. When you have protected the grains from the birds, harvested, dried the kernels for two months, hand cleaned the husk of the rice, bagged them into 62 Kilo (100 lb.) bags, and transport your product to the Accra market; you are paid on the spot for your hard work. A 62 Kilo bag is worth 200GHc and an acre of ground will yield a bag and a half on good years. Rice is harvested only once per year, usually in August. The real difficulty of raising rice comes in the months of May, June and July just before harvest time. For those three months, the farmer and all of his family live and sleep at the bush farm in a makeshift Bamboo lean to in order to keep the birds from eating all of the rice seeds blossoming. It is a 24 hour war with nature and the family knows they will have no family income if not on the battlefield during those months. Throughout the days and nights the entire family set watches to continually scare the birds when they come in to pluck the rice seeds. Rice farmers have devised Bamboo noise makers that they shake as they run through the rows of rice and the birds are scurried off; primitive but effective. The challenge is to have a large enough plot of land to raise this precious demanded product  throughout Ghana to receive your annual income needed for the farmers family, and being able to defend the full farm when the birds descend  and within an hour will destroy the maturing rice. I have been told that if the farmer and his family are not there to war off the birds, 4 acres of rice is literally a waste land within one hour. Most rice farmers are from generations of rice farmers and have lived this way of life since babes; they tend to marry other rice farmers children to keep their tradition and sub-culture alive.

Over the years we have lived here in the bush, we have only met 7 rice farmers, one being Brother Ofosu and his family. I have followed him to his farm that is a full 4 acre cut out of the jungle by him and three generations before he became the master of the farm. When I visited his farm last year, it was a rich fertile sloped farm with waves of rice heads gentling bending in the breeze. Brother Ofosu is a small man, standing maybe 5’3”, but a well-defined physical specimen of raw muscle grained with years of hard work in his farm. He and his family have been members of the Church for over twenty years. He and Comfort have raised 6 children; one son now serving a mission, one daughter preparing to serve a mission within weeks, 4 have graduated from High School, and the last two will enter secondary school in a couple of years. Together they have served in the Sankubenase Branch faithfully when called upon, but when May, June and July come around, they were on their plot of land full time for those three months and sometimes longer. Brother Ofosu attended school through the 4^th grade and has difficulty with reading English. He has been taught to read by his children; Comfort neither reads or writes English or Twi- she was never allowed to attend school. They are humble childlike in their faith and commitment to the Lord and their Gospel testimonies.

My eyes were filled with tears, today, as now President Ofosu bore fervent testimony of the blessings we will receive when we willingly partner with the Lord. He related how he was called as the Branch President by President Oppong and me on a Saturday afternoon five months ago. He told of how he had wrestled with the Lord over his inadequacies, his rice farm demands, and the honored family tradition of farming rice for his family’s needs. With Comfort by his side, in the early morning hours of the Sunday he was to be sustained, they covenanted with the Lord they will love and serve the saints with all of their hearts and only asked that angels from above would attend their family. He called his brother before church services and turned his entire portion of the family rice farm over to him knowing he would never be asked again by the family to represent the extended family’s interest or heritage as a rice farmer.  When he stood and the membership sustained the Lord’s action to support Brother Ofosu as their Branch President, no one knew that he and Comfort had covenanted all of their earthly income, generations of family tradition of farming rice, knowing he would the next day start preparing a new farm to grow corn and vegetables for his family, nor the great faith he stepped forward with the Lord on his side. He has given his all to the Master of the vineyard in full partnership. Quoting President Ofosu “…Jesus is the Master of my soul, Oh that you may feel his loving arms around you as I do.”

 

"...The good Shepherd calleth his people..."

It has been a while since I have written a on the blog, but have felt impressed to begin again and fill this blog with stories of faith and devotion of the Abomosu District we have experienced while serving in this bush community of Africa. One day these will fill the pages of a book and hopefully will bless our family for generations to come. These are dedicated to them.

I have felt impressed to share with you a rescue story that is happening as we speak here in the Abomosu District. After Elder Grow of the Seventy had visited our mission and shared the vision of the Brethren with respect to the full time missionaries and how they will assist councils to rescue those that have wandered off from the flock, the district presidency sat and discussed this with our district councilmen. It was most interesting to hear their comments and thoughts of who was responsible for this concerted effort. I watched as President Oppong conducted the discussion. “The Branch President must do this or that…; or we must assign the Elder Quorum Presidents to visit these less active” was the conclusion of the discussion. I sat and prayed for help from above for I saw that these district leaders did not feel their responsibility in this process of rescuing. Over the next few days I pondered and had a continued prayer in my heart for how the Lord would teach this principle to the district presidency and the whole leadership of the district. It was after a few days of my concerted petition on the Lord, that I was re-reading in Alma 5 of the how Alma stepped down from his secular Chief Judge duties and began the great rescues of less active and unbelieving brothers and sisters. Though I have read this a number of times throughout my life, it came with such an impact to my mind, I shall never forget how I felt at that very moment. My mind was quickened to those that we should leave the ninety and nine and search and find these choice sheep. In the MLS there is a report available to our leaders called Temple Recommend Holder not Current. This is a list of once active members with a heartfelt burning for the Church and specifically the Temple, which are now less active in His church. They were worthy at one time of the full blessings offered to mortal man and had embraced the full love of the Savior through eternal ordinances.  These are those that Heavenly Father would have us rescue first and then enlist their help to rescue others that are lost.

We met as a district presidency two days later and knelt in prayer for the Spirit to guide our planning of these people we have missed at our Sacrament meetings. President Oppong asked that I conduct our discussion. We read together once again of Alma’s desire for the blessings of eternal life for his brethren and that sweet spirit once again entered the room and into our hearts and minds; four men in unison with the Lords will. Our council was quite different of those from the past and we followed the inspiration we received from the Spirit during our meeting. We felt impressed to repent ourselves and be the leaders we should and rededicate our time and wills to this great rescue we had laid before us. We felt we were to visit as a complete presidency many of those once active saints. Our duty was to lead by example, in unison, our flock to the Saviors arms and once again drink from His living water. We were to become the shepherds and they must hear our voice as we bear testimony through our words and actions to our beloved flock. Our minds were turned once again to the scriptures and Jacobs teachings in Jacob 5 of the gathering of the sweet fruit throughout the Masters vineyard. Repeatedly the Master of the vineyard directed and assisted with the pruning and cares of the tender plants and then participated in the gathering of the sweet fruitful harvest brought his storehouse. We felt a desire for our branch councils to feel this same witness and concluded they would need a Branch Council meeting conducted by the district presidency to teach, demonstrate and share how this wonderful gathering of missing members would bring back those to sup with us at the Lord’s Table. We concluded that at each Branch Conference we would use those names found on the Temple Recommend Holders not Current report for that branch council meeting. We petitioned the Lord’s help with our teachings and example as a district presidency.

We met with the Abomosu Branch Council after the Abomosu Conference block sessions. All priesthood and auxiliary leaders were present along with the branch presidency. We invited the district councilmen, the full-time missionaries, and all of the district auxiliary leaders to attend the council. After a few introductions, President Oppong began our council and explained our mission was to teach, by example, how powerful a branch council can be when united in the rescue call to those wandering in unprotected fields. He bore a humble testimony of the scriptures we had read as a presidency and witnessed this was speaking to us as a branch and district leaders. We reviewed the handout from Elder Grows instructions and began a council meeting directed by the entire District Presidency. We brought the Temple Recommend Holders not Current report of their branch and spoke directly about 6 names that seem to be highlighted to our minds eye; a couple who had not been to church since 2009; a woman who had once been a wonderful member but somehow had slipped away since 2010; another couple who had joined another church in 2007; and a gentleman who once served in the Elder Quorum Presidency. Each had at one time, a strong testimony and conviction for the Lord’s truths and felt in their hearts to make sacred covenants with their Savior. Each name was individually discussed and all participated with a love that was felt from above. Each person chosen from the list was still in the community and seen by most of the council members even our district leaders knew of them and their whereabouts. We asked the young women president to visit the woman who had slipped away, and lived close to her little store. She did not know of her but committed she would visit her that week. The importance of this work caused the presidency to ask when exactly she will have this visit completed and report back to the branch clerk who will then report that to the Branch President and further action could be taken? This sweet sister committed she would go the very next day for the time was now, for action. The counselor in the Elder Quorum Presidency spoke of the older man who had not been to church for years that he was actually a distant relative and the presidency would visit him that week on Wednesday. The Primary President spoke up and suggested she along with the Relief Society President would visit the couple who had not been in the building since 2009. They were retired school teachers and that was something they had in common. Teamed together, they felt they could visit their family by Friday night. Feeling the prompting of the Spirit, President Oppong spoke to all of the council about this couple that had joined another church. It seemed that all knew of their joining another church and had concluded they should leave them alone for now. President Amoh, Oppong and I turned to each other and quickly discussed our schedules and then turned to the entire council and announced we would make a special visit as a entire district presidency the following Sunday, after our assignments in the different branches. There was a sweet feeling that was undeniable in all of our hearts. A silence seemed to linger for a time and the witness came with power to our souls we shall all be changed and committed even more to the Lord’s will for each of these dear children of Heavenly Father.

Yesterday, as a District Presidency, we visited our brother and sister and shared with them that we loved them and missed their friendship and strength in our congregation. We invited them to once again sup at the Saviors table. We were lead by the Spirit as we asked of their sealed marriage and do they still know they will be together after this earthly life? Oh how our hearts were touched as they testified they still believed they would be together forever. They spoke of their two daughters that were now married with children and how they were sealed also to them. I was prompted to ask them about their other children, not knowing of others, our records showed only two daughters. The Spirit guided me to speak the words He would put into my mouth and their hearts. The sister then admitted they were married for just over a year when they had a son who had only lived four months and died of an illness they still did not understand. This was a sacred moment for us and this wonderful couple. We bore testimony through the tears we all had, that that son had been waiting 45 years for his sealing to his loving father and mother who carried his memory. President Oppong softly shared the witness of the sealing authority only found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and spoke of the blessing they still retain as a member of the Saviors Church. He testified of our coming this day as a complete presidency to invite them to prepare to once again enter the House of the Lord and complete their family forever through sacred covenants they had been keeping in their hearts. They turned to each other and in unison said they would want that blessing for their son and their hearts. President Amoh, feeling the tender moment, quietly invited them back to church and to once again partake of the soul filling spirit offered each Sunday. They both raised and extended their hand in fellowship and affirmed their commitment to once again embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ fully. We all had tear filled eyes as we embraced each other. It was a spiritual moment and witness that the Master knows his sheep and when we follow the prompting of the Shepherd, those that have wandered will be carried on his shoulders back to the ninety and nine. We all knelt in prayer in that humble little home and poured out our thanks and commitment to the Lord. A priesthood blessing was pronounced upon the couple and home and the warmth of the Spirit was truly felt by all.

I have spoken to the Branch President about each assignment and was told each was fulfilled by the council members and three of the five attended Sunday’s meetings with their entire families. The full time missionaries have begun teaching the sister the Young Women President had visited, the new member lessons to once again ignite the flame that once burned within her breast. We even found out she was going to have a baby soon and plans are in the works to assist with the little one upon arrival. The full-time missionaries were part of our council meeting and are now seeing opportunities to teach new member lessons to those we are reactivating.

I witness of the great work we are involved in as servants of the Master. You will see great rescue efforts within the district as we share this wonderful program with the branch leaders during their conferences. This work is true and most important as the last gathering rolls forward in these the latter days. The Savior knows his sheep and they hear his voice when the Holy Ghost once again touches hearts within each member or non-member. It is a sweet stirring for all of Fathers children to their remembrance.

 

....tiny angels...

On January 17, 2013 at 5:32AM Gifty Osei delivered a beautiful baby boy. He is healthy and has adapted to his new earthly family. Melissa, his older sister has been taking care of her little brother and showing him the family ways. Father is so pleased to have a son who will carry on the family traditions centered in the Lord and his ways. We received a call at 6:10AM from Douglas that his wife had delivered. We rushed to the Abomosu Medical Center and the birthing center to see the new arrival. She was the only woman in the center that morning and we held the littlest angel to the Osei family. What wonder birth is and the miracle of life. The door opened to the hall and our friend Mabel Danquah greeted us warmly. Mabel is the Abomosu Medical Center midwife and has served for 35 years in Abomosu as the midwife for the surrounding areas. She works at the center and does house calls when the woman is without health insurance. She spoke to Gifty and Douglas about a few details and then released Gifty to go home. She gently hugged Gifty and pinched the cheek of the newest angel and was out the door. I followed her out to thank her for her endless labor and caring love for these women of the bush and especially Gifty. Sister Dalton and Douglas were gathering up their blanket and bowls of food they had brought from home. They had walked the 3 1/2 Km. from Asunafo, to the Abomosu birthing center. Yes, they walked, no car was available and Douglas said they only stopped twice while Gifty caught her breathe after a particularly hard contraction. They arrived 21 minutes before she delivered. If we had not come to see the baby and Gifty, they would have walked back home carrying the new addition, and Melissa in tow. The Lord works in mysterious ways His wonders to witness.

Mable was filling out a dog eared notebook as I stuck my head through the curtains and thanked her for her efforts in Gifty’s behalf. She welcomed me into a small room that is also used as an exam room for the women. We sat on a wooden bench as she shared page after page with dates, names and sex of a baby she had delivered. I read the different entries and the small notes if there was something special about the birth. I ran my fingers over the worn pages, hand written with tender care. She opened up a drawer and said “Elder, here are all of the records of the births I have assisted with for 35 years. I will give them to the area Medical Director before I retire soon.” The drawer had several books filled with the same record keeping she had adopted when she first began midwife duties as a 23 year old young woman freshly set on her own by her mother who taught her the duties of a midwife. I marveled at the treasure these books contained and great history written, one birth at a time. She spoke softly about some of those that had died at birth and with reverence for those tiny angels, as she called them. It was a very special occasion for the two of us to share. I asked her how many babies she had delivered including Gifty’s baby just a few hours before? “Today marks number 35,000 babies, Elder, 35,000 tiny angels I have held fresh from heaven.”

 Mable Danquah- picture is above

.... undeniable witness..."

Within a few minutes, the storm subsided and the thunder moved on toward Nswaum. We shuffled a bit to once again become somewhat comfortable and Margrette looked at my eyes. She experienced wonderment as I asked her to share the dream she had seen about her baptismal day, dressed in white. Elders Boateng and Smith looked at me, but were quite and humbled with such a question. We continued to gaze into Margrette’s eyes. Her beautiful brown cheeks were wet with tears and she began to blot them with her hand towel. Not a word was spoken as the question I posed to this sweet women, touched her heart and ours too. With a soft voice she confirmed that she had seen a vision and she could not deny the witness of the Holy Ghost. It was silent for some time and I asked her what she was feeling. She raised straight in her chair and whispered to us she would be baptized on the 22^nd of December 2012 when all of her children would be home from schooling for the holidays. Elders Boateng and Elder Smith were touched also as she uttered those precious words of commitment to the Lord, and all of our eyes were filled with tears of joy.

Over the next eight weeks, Sister Dalton and I were constant visitors and friends with Sister Drah. We have learned to love the family deeply and especially President and Sister Drah’s loving relationship. We are eternal friends and will be present at their sealing in the temple. Over the months of preparation for her baptism, we did not speak of who she had seen in her dream was also dressed in white and baptizing her. Time came that a week before her baptism I asked her to look in her mind’s eye and tell me who it was she saw that baptized her. She thought for a moment and said rather directly “the District President, President Wellington.” I repeated the name and asked if she was sure. She hesitated and nodded. I took my mobile phone from my pocket and called him right away. Margrette bowed her eyes as I spoke to President Wellington. I then turned to her after my conversation and said, “Sister Drah, he was not the man you witnessed in the font with you on your baptism day and you knew that when you gave me the name didn’t you?” She looked up to Sister Dalton and me with tears filled eyes said, ”O Elder, you are the one I saw in my dream and I cannot deny what the Spirit has witnessed to me this day. I will love the Lord and the restoration of His truths to my life and will dedicate my life to our family and the temple covenants we will enter when I have prepared.”

December 22, 2012, I had the privilege to accompany Sister Margrette Drah into the waters of baptism and with the binding authority of the priesthood, unlocked the eternities for her and her ancestors. Sweet is the gospel plan that burns within all of our hearts.   

Below are the pictures of the Drah family at the baptism

 

 

 

 

...be still and know that I am God...

     I apologize for the delay with our blog contributions but have experienced some technical challenges commonly found here Africa. Over the next few days I will make up those 3 missed weeks. Enjoy-

     An assignment was given to Sister Dalton, me, and the Abomosu Zone Leaders, over 6 months ago from our mission president; “please teach and baptize the Kade Branch Presidents wife. She is a key link in the growth of the members and the Church in that area.” Kade is two and a half hours from Abomosu on the worst roads in Ghana, and though the distance is not that far, the time of travel is very significant in a day’s work here. We carefully planned for those days to visit with Margrette Drah and her family, being careful to use that distance to visit others in Oda and Asamankase as well. President Drah has been the branch president for over 5 years and has been a “rock” in his service to that small branch without the help of full-time missionaries to assist in the growth. He was baptized in 1997 and their 3 children have followed suit. Together each week they formed a strong backbone for this branch and the foothold of the Church in this town of 45,000 in the southern bush. Margrette would attend most weeks but did not choose to be baptized. Missionaries over the years have made the trip from Asmankase or Oda to Kade to teach her and share their testimonies, but her baptismal commitment never came about. Most missionaries who had bore testimony to her still remember what a good woman she was, yet had no understanding why she did not partake of the blessings of baptism. She was considered by most, as that China Egg that would never hatch.

        We counseled together with the Zone Leaders, Elder Boateng and Elder Garrett Smith, about our assignment and knelt in fervent prayer before the Lord, and with faith, we set out to accomplish our inspired Mission Presidents’ request. One day in August 2012, we met with Margrette at her home late one afternoon. We sat for a minute and spoke of family and met each child and felt of their spirits. I shall never forget how within 6 or 8 minutes the dipping sun was shrouded with thick black clouds rolling with thunder and a fierce rainfall following right behind. These homes here have corrugated mostly rusted tin roofs; opened through the rafters to the metal. I was setting alongside Elders Smith and Boateng. Elder Boateng had opened up the Book of Mormon with Margrette and shared a reading from its pages of the love of God for all of His children, when all of a sudden the storm rose with deafening proportions as thunder clapped directly over our heads bringing all of us to our feet with an electrifying shock. The rains instantly came down on that tin roof in buckets exposing all of the leaks through the roofing. We scurried around for pots, pans and towels to cover the desk where Margrette was setting. Rapid thundering and lightning strikes continued, making the children scream and hold each other. Is was if the rath of an unknown power seemed to clutch the moment and even our beings. We could hear no words spoken, for the torrential rain on the roof did not allow hearing each other. We experienced the thunder and lightning and rain pounding upon the roof with such intensity, I prayed for protection and safety and a release from this awful noise that filled the home. I remember surveying the situation with which we had found ourselves in; we had come to uncover concerns, we had come spiritually prepared to teach by the spirit, we had come to show love to this dear sister and her family. We had come to testify of the power of the Temple blessings offered to Margrette and the family she loved, and along with her husband, raised unto the Lord. Yet it seemed our preparations and the message was overshadowed by the tempest tossed of the elements. We huddled around the small table on the porch within a screened area with inches of rainwater all about us on the concrete floor, saying nothing- waiting and silently praying for help. Twenty five minutes is a long time to listen to thunderous rain pour over head and to set with your feet covered with standing water from a furious storm- but we did, patiently waiting upon the Lord. Through all of this discomfort and furious earthly noise, the Still small voice whispered to my mind that this fine women had had a dream and had seen herself in the waters of baptism dressed in white surrounded by heavenly family long since passed on. I was to ask her of this dream and witness to her she was highly favored of the Lord and prayed for by ancestors now beyond the veil. I looked at Margrette and saw her in my mind’s eye dressed in those white baptismal clothes, and marveled at the wonders of God. Peace overshadowed me and I testify how I was comforted from above.

…to be continued…