Amazing Times

Since Elder Harris is gone, I am the senior missionary. And I am just finding out how much Fante I know! I can have full conversations in Fante which is just blowing Elder Richards away ahaha

 I live in a comparatively nice apartment with running water and electricity... Sometimes... The past 2 weeks or so we have had to live out of big trash cans of water and take bucket showers, but now the water is back. Ghana water is really random and it turns of at random times. And same with the light. It has been working pretty well for the past few weeks, but it used to turn off at 12ish everyday and not come back on till 10 pm. We sleep under mosquito nets but the bugs haven't been so bad. But they will get worse soon. Dry season is coming and it is going to get verrrry hot soon. But I worked at scout camp so it cant be too bad!!

What amazing times we live in! Times when there about 80000 missionaries around the world spreading the good word! Wow. Just had to throw that out there. This week I have just marveled again and again how much the Lord helps in the Lord's work. Makes sense when I put it that way... So many times this week we went the extra feet and got pushed the rest of the mile. Example. A "Standard of Excellence" In the Cape Coast mission is to have 5 Gospel Conversations (GC's) every day making a total of 35 in a week. One day we were walking (I like to walk fast) and we walked right by a guy. He yelled for us to come back. He said something I will never forget, he said, "You are here to teach the Word of God, but you walk by so many opportunities everyday! Why?" CHASTISED. He is SO right. Who am I to only talk to 5 people a day and call it quits. Selfish is who I am! I had that thought in my whole day and that night when we were closing our day I pitched my goal, AT LEAST one GC every hour, making a goal of TEN per day. Wow. What a difference that has made. Now we are excitedly searching for opportunities and will talk to everyone who is not yelling racial slurs at us! I say that in jest, we GC them too. Sometimes racial slurs are a great conversation starter! "Why in fact I am White! Good observation! It just goes to show how God loves all of his children individually and makes us all different!" Ever since we have made that goal we are talking to 15 to 20 people per day and having really good conversations. The best part that in the past few days, more than ever, people have been coming to us! Its like God wants us to complete our goal and throws all these freebees at us. As we went a few feet over the line and made the goal, God pushed us to the mile! What a blessing!

We are having another 4 baptisms this Sunday in our humble little pond making a whopping 100 PEOPLE in the Agona-Nkwanta Branch!! Coming from maybe 30ish people coming to Sacrament Meeting just a few months ago to 100 members and most of them coming, Wow! Blessings are raining down! 

What a privilege we have to live in this time.

2 Nephi 25:26-- We talk of Christ. Rejoice in Christ. Preach in Christ. Christ is our centre to our whole being!

(And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.)

Elder Riehle