Branch Council

Dear America,

Sorry for the short letters the past few weeks. That means that nothing went terribly wrong that I had to write home about.

On Saturday we had the first branch council of the year. It was powerful. Everyone came in full force. We established some important things like presidency meetings, home and visiting teaching, member-missionary work, and effective teaching. I was really pleased. They planned a branch temple trip and I guess the spirit of temple work was there because I got really excited while they talked about it. They'll stay in Accra at the temple for five consecutive nights while they attend the temple in the day. I miss temple trips! I was jealous. While we were at the council, our branch president told his own story to emphasize on member missionary work. He said that the first time he met the missionaries he invited them in and started to chat with them. He told them what he knew about religion and listened to their message. As the taught, he got angry with what they were saying. He told them to get out of his house. A little while later, one of his friends started to talk about religion with him. He was interested and one day his friend brought the missionaries over to meet with the two of them. They were the very same missionaries. When Tony saw them, he was shocked. But this time he listened a little more. He ended up taking the discussions and being baptized and now he's the branch president. The second counselor gave a contrasting story. When he first saw the missionaries, he was Catholic. He stopped them and asked them what they were doing. He said, "I want to come to your church!" He did. He took the discussions and got baptized. Both of them are so different but they're both really dedicated to the church. Also on Saturday we helped Elder Wood fix up a trycicle for a disabled man.

Every Sunday after church, Hannah Osei--who recently got baptized and called as the second counselor in the Relief Society--stays behind to help us make some stew or something for lunch and eats with us before she goes home. It's one of my favorite parts of Sunday.

Elder Nelson