Let Us Be Faithful

Kaden is doing well. He wrote me and said that some investigators gave him some water to drink and he has been sick from the bad water but he is on the mend now. Also, his camera is broke so he hasn't been able to send any pictures but his companion actually took a really short video of him dancing which I attached to this email. 

Thank you for the many prayers offered in behalf of all the missionaries serving all over the world. It amazes me how many are serving at this time and wonderful miracles happening. 

1 Nephi 7: 12

 

“Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.”

 

Mi Abusia, me pacho why.

My Family, forgive me okay. I want to thank each of you for the strength you have given me as I've been serving as a missionary. When I think of you I remember that I am not the only one to pass through what I am passing through, and that many of you are also struggling through more difficult trials than I am. You give me strength to continue and a knowledge that all will be well in the end. I am continuing to enjoy serving with my companion Elder Hanberg in our Area, Agbogba. We love the members here and the many friendships we have made. As we serve them we feel all of us coming closer to our Heavenly Father and it is the greatest blessing to experience. 

 

Elder Hanberg and I have been witnessing miracles here! We got a call one night as we were getting home to prepare dinner, it was from one of our dear member friends Sister Naomi. She had introduced us to a family a few months ago; a mother and her two sons, Eva, Patrick and Joseph. Patrick was baptized in our Ward and Eva had been to Church a few times but has not been able to meet with us for some time because she had become so busy with work. She is a seamstress and work does not always come. But when the work does come for them here, they jump on the opportunity, not knowing when their next job will be. Sister Naomi called us and told us that Eva was suffering severe back pain and that she wanted the Elders to come to give her a blessing. She had done all she could to relieve the pain but it was not going as it usually did. Elder Hanberg and I grabbed our sandals and hopped on our bicycles to go see our friend Eva. She was not doing well. We had Sister Naomi give us a prayer and explain to her that we would give her a blessing and that she would be blessed according to her faith. She understood well and Elder Hanberg performed the anointing and I followed with a Priesthood Blessing. As you rely on the Spirit, you will touch the hearts of those you are blessing. Towards the end of the blessing I remember feeling Eva nod her head slightly as if faithfully affirming that she knew that what I was being prompted to say would come true. As we left her that evening I knew that we had healed her heart, and that was the greatest blessing. We met her the next afternoon and she was strong and healthy again. As we trust in the Lord with all our heart, we can have faith that He will bless us according to His will. 

 

I've come to have a family here in Agbogba, a Ward family. You know that you are close with them when they invite you to do a cultural dance with them in a Stake Competition. Adenta Stake was having a Cultural Activity that each of the 13 Wards/Branches of the Stake were invited to. I was invited to dance with my Ward and we danced the Kpalago. The Kpalago is a dance of the Ga's, the tribe of Accra. They are a fishing tribe so the dance goes something along those lines. And through it all the women are shaking their bottoms. I'll just throw that in now and try to imagine it. I have never seen a Relief Society President move herself quite like Sister Sheri can. And there is no greater shaker than our Young Women's President, Sister Fianko. It was so much fun to see all of them just move and show the culture of Ghana so well. There were 5 women and 5 men. The women walk in carrying their bowls on their head, preparing to go and get the fish that the fishermen bring in. Then the 5 men walk in, dressed as fishermen, carrying their net. We wore short shorts, a nice big sun hat, and a flower button up shirt. We set our net and then pull the fish in. The women come and we give them the fish. Then as they are going to sell, we see how beautiful they are. We do our best to fix our hair but the women go to sell anyway. Then we decide to go and change. We remove our flower shirts, and put on a white shirt, bowtie, and suspenders. And then we go and try to dance and impress the ladies. They deny us a few times but we finally catch one! :) And then we dance with them away. We have one solo part and my move was to shave off the back side of my partner, Sister Milicent, because it was "too big". The whole crowd loved to see a white man dancing like a Ghanaian and we enjoyed learning that culture.

 

This week I learned of faithfulness and exercising faith. I had been a bit sick so I was not able to jump rope as I had usually done. Well this morning I jumped rope for my normal amount of time and I about died, because I had been lazy and had not been maintaining the strength that I had had. This applies to showing our faithfulness. If we are not careful we might get distracted and forget the purpose of our lives. I pray that we will not forget. Remember who you are, and remember who those around you are. Love them, pray for them, and serve them. They are often praying to God for someone to help them and you could be that person. But we must be faithful. As we are faithful we will have the strength, the courage, the desire to become more. We will trust in our Savior. We will love our Savior. And in return we will feel His love and trust. Whatever comes to us, always remember Him and be faithful to Him and those that have helped us as He has.

Let us be faithful.

PREPARE IT

Mi Kwaba,

Elder Bergeson