....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