Foundation

Helaman 5 : 12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. 

Me ye ke kyere!

In Twi this means, I am the last born in my family. Usually this means that you love your mommy and that you can't do much of anything because you have always relied on your older siblings to do it for you. That is all very true for me. I love my mom and my siblings help me A LOT, but whenever I say I am the last born none of the Ghanaians believe me. They say that I am too confident to be a last born. I just thank my Heavenly Father for giving me that confidence. My confidence comes from knowing who I am. And that confidence comes from knowing who my Savior is. As we come to know Christ and as we build ourselves upon Him, we have the confidence to become who our Heavenly Father needs us to be. 

Elder Hanberg and I are loving the area. We have made life-long friends and have come to learn who they are and the things they have passed through to get there. We are teaching a young man named Patrick. He is 18 and is preparing for his baptism this Saturday. We were sharing with him the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He lives near Sister Naomi, a 26 year old sister who is in our ward. She is married to Brother Johnson and they have the cutest 9 month old named Alpha. We began our lesson with the two of them and started talking about Faith. When we have Faith in Jesus Christ, we show our Faith by acting. We act in Faith as we Repent of our sins. We shared Alma 12 : 34 and talked about how we can soften our hearts so that we will even desire to Repent. Sister Naomi joined the Church about 4 years earlier and so I asked her how it was for her when she was softening her heart and changing to become more like Christ. She shared the funniest story. When Sister Naomi finished Senior High School she when to hair school away from her parents. That is when she came to love going clubbing. She told us,"I used to wear my short knickers and my tight tops and go and dance. Even when I met the missionaries I would wear my hot knickers during the lessons!" We laughed and she continued to say that she listened to the missionaries and began to feel a change. She started to change into modest clothing when the missionaries came, and then when they left she would go and change back. Then she started just wearing the modest clothing always. Then she started coming to Church and coming to know Christ. Her heart changed and she started building upon Him. She was baptised and a few years later met Brother Johnson, and now she is happier than ever. Her heart was softened and she chose to come closer to Christ. We were all touched and we felt the Spirit in her words. We all have parts of us that sometimes take us from Christ, but as we learn of Him we will be changed.

This Sunday we were in our Priesthood class, that is all of the males ages 12 and up, and we were talking about the Priesthood. The teacher asked, "What is the Priesthood." Everyone looked around, not really wanting to answer. Then Patrick, our investigator, raised his hand and said, "The Priesthood is the power and authority given to man to act in God's name." The class was shocked because Patrick has only been attending Church for 3 weeks. Then the teacher said, "That is correct! The missionaries have taught you well. If their Mission President were here they would have gotten an A+++!" The whole class laughed and we sure felt happy to know that we are helping others to learn. It is a special feeling to know that God has worked through you to find those who are ready to accept His Gospel. 

Gifty and Ezekiel have now been members of the Church for 4 weeks and they love the peace that has come into their lives. We love them and continue to see them as we share our testimonies with them. This week we sat down in Gifty's shop and she was very nervous and finally said that she had a question. Her question was, "If someone sees something in your life, like something evil, and they warn you, should you do what they ask?" Elder Hanberg and I were perplexed. At first she was just trying to ask like it wasn't involving her, but finally she told us the story. She had been walking in the Market and she was stopped by a pastor who told her that he had seen a vision of her and that there was evil in her house. He said that if she did not come and see him and bring an offering, then the evil would harm her. She was nervous and wondering what she should do. We prayed and I shared the scripture that has been in my mind all week, Helaman 5 : 12. We talked about Christ and how He is our rock. We only need to have Faith in Him and then whatever storms come, they "will have no power over you... because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation." Christ is the rock and He is always there for us. Our purpose in this life is to prepare to meet God. The only way we can do that is by being perfected through Christ. As we work and pray and sacrifice, we will find Christ and we will be able to build on Him. Then whatever storms come; sickness, sorrow, death, unemployment, embarrassment, miscarriage, temptations, doubt, and fear; they will never overcome us. We are built on Christ. He knows what we need to become like him. Have faith. Be believing. Christ is your rock and He will never fail you.

I love you all. Christ is my rock and you are my supports. 

PREPARE IT

Mi Kwaba,

Elder Bergeson