Hee hee, I had my claim to fame this past week! :) 7-1-2019
Football camp with Ziggy Ansah!!!
Let's get to the cool stuff first. I got to do a
football camp with the NFL player Ezekiel Ansah!!! He just got traded to the
Seattle Seahawks so if you want to look him up now you know where to look! The purpose of the camp was to teach the youth of Ghana what the sport of
football is. Now for Ziggy (that's his nickname) he grew up in Ghana for his
first eighteen years. Then he moved to
Utah to attend BYU, where he became a
football legend. He comes back to Ghana every year because he wants to give back to this country that he
loves so much. What is even cooler, he did a 40 yard dash sprint with the
missionaries. Guess what? I won! I have to say that was one of the coolest
things I have ever done! Ha ha, as fun as it was, it was honestly even better
being able to have the chance to volunteer and to help to bring the youth of this
country together and teach them what the importance of teamwork is. The activity is especially to help the youth realize that they are the ones that will decide what they will become in the
future.
Alright now onto missionary work, ha ha. This past week we
were focusing on working with members a lot more. More specifically, we would go
to them, teach a lesson, and then have them take us to go and teach someone
immediately after. At first it wasn't going so well but then people started
pulling us aside and saying that they had people for us to teach. At the end of the
week, we had about fifteen referrals!!! That is the most I have received in
a week! It seemed to come out of nowhere! All these members were saying,
"Elders! I have a friend who wants to be taught so you should come!"
So it was such an answer to prayer.
On Saturday, we had four people come to church, which
was such a blessing. We have been trying to get a few of our investigators to
church and they finally decided to come, which was just so amazing to have
finally happen. But even cooler, there was a girl who I saw after church, who I
have seen my entire time being here. She lives in the same compound with a
bunch of other members, but we never taught them because people said that she wouldn't listen. I asked the girl what she was doing here and she said, "I have
been coming to this church long before you came to Ashaiman, my mother just
said I had to wait until I was twelve before I could be baptized. Now I am twelve and I
want to start coming again!" Guys, she has been waiting for like three years to
come and join the church, and she is only twelve! That is such a
miracle!!!!
The last thing that was awesome, is that for our zone we
had made a goal of having twenty-eight baptisms in three months. We ended up getting twenty-five! I am so happy about it! That is the best this zone has
done in a long time. I was ecstatic when I found out! It was a real answer
to many, many prayers I have said.
My little thought comes from Ezekiel Ansah himself. He told the youth these things. Have
you ever had a hard time? Have you ever struggled with a challenge? Have you
wanted to change your circumstances? I have asked this to myself many times.
But Ezekiel Ansah's motto is simple, "I am the answer...." To often we look outside to solve our problems, but in reality, we are the ones that can
solve it. We just have to look within. IT's the same with missionary work and
everyday life. When you are tired and don't know what to do, just look at
yourself and become the answer to your problem. We see this time and time again
in the scriptures, especially with Nephi. He didn't ask God to build a boat, he
built it. He didn't ask God to fix his bow, he fixed it. He didn't ask God to
correct his brothers, he corrected them. So let us all become our own answers
to our trials throughout our lives and with our Lord's help we can do it.
Sincerely,
Elder Baird
Pictures from Sister Keyes :)
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