I am a huge believer in examples.

Good morning everyone (or what ever time it is when you are reading this)

I finally got my other shoe, so I have been walking in style this weekend. They are really comfortably and very breezy.  I like them a lot so thank you very much. Oh and I emailed Elder Orchard about my other shoes and he said that something happened because he never got home with them.  He was really sorry but I am sure they are still around some where; I just got to find them. I think the pair I have now will last me until I get home.  If not then I will make them last. I don’t think that I will need another pair unless I want to wear a new pair home to make sure I am looking fresh! Ha-ha!

This week wasn’t too much out of the regular. Some guy showed up to our place to try and solve the rat problem. His idea was to cover the holes with some nails and wood. That might have worked in any other situation but not with these massive rats. They just chewed threw the wood over night. Ha-ha! They are huge but they really haven’t been bothering me too bad, it’s the other elders that are in our apartment.

I was walking around our place this week and I found this old baptismal font which was kind of strange but then I found out that this place used to be the old meeting house a long time ago. After it was a meeting house it was the MTC for a few years before they built the big one. Now it is just home to missionaries and of course our friendly RATS!  This building has been around for a while and has seen a lot of missionaries in its day. 

On Thursday we had a mission tour with Elder Sitati.  It was really good and really boring. That guy can talk in a monotone voice for hours. Somehow we got lucky and only got it for two solid hours. At the beginning of his speech he talked about the how significant putting on our name tags and going out amongst the people and setting an example for everyone to see. He started off with this scripture in Timothy 4:12 “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity”. Then he talk about how most of us are all still young (between 19 to 25) yet most of the people that we teach every day are our elders, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be the one’s setting the example to the world. More importantly right now to Ghana and to the people in our area. Well that was about the place where he lost me. I tired to pay attention but with my current attention span I knew it wasn’t going to happen so I started looking up scriptures on my own.  The scripture that I found that supports what he had to say in his 30 minutes of examples was:

Matt 5:

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

For us missionaries and members who are followers of Christ have the light and we must let it shine forth through the example that we set for others to see.  Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works. People in Ghana have a lot of different thoughts about us as missionaries as they see us walking down the streets or riding our bikes. We stand out to them and they see that we are different but for the most part they only recognize us as being different by our outward appearance. White shirts, tie, name tag, black pants etc. The thing that they might not recognize is that we have the light or the gospel. I am a huge believer in examples. I am not sure where I would be today with out the great examples that I have had in my life: Todd and Sherri Berry, Tyler Parrish, all of my family, grandparents, and most recently Kimball Wing.

Sometimes all that people need is a good example in their life to get them going or to plant a seed in their heart.  Alma 32:28 says “Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts.”

How important then is it to always set a good example for people to see even though it’s not easy.  99 good examples doesn’t make up for the damage that one bad example can leave on someone. No wonder we are expected to "be ye there for perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect" we should always be examples by living his gospel and keeping his commandments.

Well in Ghana we are moving in to the rainy season. It has started to rain now and I love it. It makes it a little bit cooler some times, but the humidity goes up to like 100%. Everything is going great, I got the calendar that mom made, it is huge! Ha-ha! Happy birthday to Grandpa Parrish yesterday.

Love you all from Ghana.