Servants in the Vineyard:

Servants in the Vineyard:

"Reminder Of My Covenant"

Could the adversity we sometimes experience in our lives brings us back to our duty to God? Could it increase or diminish our testimony of the restored gospel?
  The following statement by Elder Orson F. Whitney shades more insights to these questions, " no pain that we suffer, no pain that we experience is wasted. it ministers  to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience,faith,fortitude and humility. all that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters,purifies our hearts,expands our souls,and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God... and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation that,that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our father and mother in heaven."
May i share with you how adversity can redirect us sometimes back to our covenants. Hans Boamah, a fiftynine years of age, native of Ghana, shares the following:
"I was introduce to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in 1996,at the time i was living with Edward Mettle-Nunoo family, they introduce the gospel to me and i took the missionary discussion and was baptise at Odorkor ward,Accra Ghana Stake. Couple of month after my baptism, i relocated to Nsawam and my record was moved to Nsawam branch, while at nsawam branch, my testimony of the restored gospel grow a lot, various calling was being extended to me and the desire to do missionary work keeps improving, as i introduce the restored gospel to my families. I was offed a job at the Tema depot and traveled to and fro between tema and nsawam, the work at the depot posed a challenge  and i begin rationalizing why i should skip church service, these continue for a while and i decided to move back to Accra, Lartebiokorshie and do attend church occasionally while at Nsawan when i pickup the new job( less active). on arriving at Accra, i moved into one of the extended family house in Lartebiokorshie on january first, 2010. I was a victim of a fire outbreak from a neighboring building, the incident occur on the thirtieth of july 2011, which was on a saturday, i heard a cry for help! fire! fire! and i ran out to help and unfortunately for me as well, the fire escalated and my apartment was on fire. every single thing in the apartment got burnt, my document, credentials, clothes, electronics, the only thing that never got burnt was my sets of scriptures( triple combination of the book of mormon, bible. every thing else got burnt around it but my scripture never got burnt. While standing and gazing at the scene, the thought came to my mind,"the gospel is true, but i haven't being faithful and true to my covenant" is time to go back to activity in the church again." This was my own reminder of my covenant and I'm so grateful for the whispering of the spirit that minister to me at the time of my adversity.

Special Week.

I would like to describe this past week as, 'special week.' Special in the sense that it is very uncommon. Besides,'the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.'
 Not very often is the case of a convert from the islamic faith to the christian faith. couple of month ago while still serving in Abomosu district of the Ghana Accra Mission, i almost baptised a young man from the islamic faith, but i didn't, the reason being that he had some issues with the 'law of chastity', nevertheless, he's still taking the missionary discussion and keeps attainding church. This past week, that dream was realised as i and my companion, Elder Orchard witness the baptism of one of our investigator, formerly a muslim but now converted to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Before now,he had to wait for a year before he could be baptised because he was formerly affiliated to a group known as O.P.C ( Odua people's congress ), couple of years ago.
  The day before his baptism, i inquired of him, how he came in contact with the church?( the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints). that led to a ninety minute conversation. To cut the story short,he was introduced to a site on the internet where he met Jane. She is a mormon and she introduce the gospel to him and referred the missionary to him.
 During the months of investigating, his testimony of the restored gospel increased a lot. President Harold B. Lee once said," when your heart begins to tell you things that your mind does not know, then you are getting the spirit of the lord." This was the case for my investigator, has he shares his feelings. His heart has told him things that his mind did not know. He's converted. He saw what he should have seen. He heard what he should have heard. He understood what he should have understood, and he was doing something about it.He had a testimony.
 I do not ask my investigators to join the church just to put their names on the records. This is not my concern. My corcern is to offer to them the greatest gift the world can give, the gift of the kingdom of God. It is here for you as well if you will only accept and believe.

I say to my investigators," now, you ask the Lord, study,work,and pray," This is the process by which people are brought into the church, and it is the same way that from the beginning the honest in heart everywhere have been brought into the church. I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that missionary work is divine. I love missionary work and i want to be a missionary forever.