6 Weeks!

6 weeks! Cassie and Lauren had to give talks in church today so we tried very hard to be there on time but you never know if it’s going to take 30 or 60 min to get to church. It all depends on how long it takes for the taxi to fill up. We have to go through Agona to get to Asamong, which is why it takes so long sometimes waiting twice for taxis to fill up. The taxi to Agona filled up rather quickly but the one to Asamong wasn’t going to be filled up soon enough so we just told him that we would pay him to leave right now. It usually costs 60 pesewa to Asamong but if you don’t want to wait for the other people you can pay 3 cedi total to leave. We got there around 9:15 right during Sacrament. Cassie’s talk was on the Lord’s covenant people and she did an excellent job at explaining it with the translator. I hope too much didn’t get lost in translation because the talk was very good. Lauren also gave an excellent talk on obedience. She didn’t get through most of her talk because using a translator takes up most of the time. King came to church today to listen to the girls talk. Our Sunday school lessons were out of the book “Teachings of the Presidents of The Church: George Albert Smith.” After church we were starving so we made egg and avocado sandwiches. I am going to miss the fresh avocados, eggs, and bread. Those sandwiches were amazing. Afterwards we did our group meeting to discuss our projects, pit peaks and praises of the week, and our mid semester retreat to the Cape Coast. My research isn’t 100% approved yet so I’m still waiting on that to truly begin my interviews. My praises of the week was realizing how special being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really is. At the wedding yesterday they said ‘till death parts us’ and I realized I will never have to say that line. I will get to say ‘for time and all eternity’ with my husband. Another special blessing I receive as being a member is the Prophet Thomas Monson and his apostles that give us counsel. In church they handed out the teachings of President George Albert Smith and just the couple of pages I read from it were so stirring. He wrote about how he was asked to speak at his friend’s funeral. This is just one portion of what he said:

“As I think of the experiences of people in the world, on occasions of this kind, I marvel how we have been blessed. I have no more doubt about eternal life and the immortality of the soul than I have that the sun shines at midday… it is a sad thing to part with our dear ones, even temporarily. We send them upon missions, or they go to other parts of the world to live and we miss them. When an occasion like this occurs it seems that they are more distant, but as a matter of fact they are not, if we but understood… instead of extending the condolence that sometimes might go to those who are bereaved, I feel more like rejoicing this day that I know that this is not the end.”

I actually took the book home to read because I was touched by the different messages that were shared in there. We planned our Cape coast vacation, which I am thrilled about. It will be nice not to worry about projects, coursework, and to get away. Let’s hope this week will be as great as last week!

XOXO

Natalie