Multi-Stake Conference

The past two days have been a spiritual treat!  We got to attend the Accra Multi-Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday.  It was huge because it was all four Accra/Tema stakes...which were divided into SIX stakes in the Sunday session.  That makes Greater Accra the region with the most stakes in all of West Africa!  The church is growing so fast over here, and it's so exciting = )

The Saturday session was wonderful!  Every speaker was so interesting and faithful and humble and spiritually uplifting.  One of the visiting Seventy said that he had some good news, but first he had to talk about some problems.  The problems he discussed were death, sin, and disappointments.  He said the good news was that the atonement of Jesus Christ covers all of those problems.  We can be given hope, forgiven, and comforted through our Savior’s ultimate gift and sacrifice.  The presiding Elder of the Presidency of the Seventy gave such a cool talk.  He spoke about how his uncle got to see the blueprint for the Salt Lake Temple, and how he’s sure that no other building on earth would have the exact same specifications.  He said that the Savior organized his church on the earth in the New Testament, so the Bible is the blueprint for what the Lord’s church should look like.  He then went through scripture verses stating what the organization of Christ’s church looked like, the ordinances in His church, and the teachings/doctrine of His church.  It was clear that, although other churches have some of the same specifications as the blueprint given in the Bible, the only church that follows the blueprint exactly, and thus is Christ’s only true church on the earth today, is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We have a Prophet, Apostles, and Seventy.  We teach that baptism is an essential ordinance and should be done by immersion.  We receive the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands by the authority of the Priesthood.  We also participate in the sacred ordinance of baptisms for the dead.  We teach that God the Father and His Son are two separate beings who have a body of flesh and bones.  We pay tithing.  We believe that God still speaks to his children and continues to give revelation through his Prophets.

Yesterday, the Sunday Session, was wonderful because we got to hear many of the new stake leaders bear their sweet, humble, powerful testimonies.  One man told a story about his friend who wanted a new plant for his compound.  He searched for a long time, and finally found a plant that he thought would be perfect.  He took it home, planted it, nourished it for six weeks, and saw that it had only sprouted two leaves.  He went back to the man who had sold him the plant to complain.  The plant-seller told him that that was the way the plant grew, and that he needed to prune it now.  Prune it?!  How could he prune a plant that only had two leaves?!  But the plant-seller promised him that this was how the plant would grow.  So the friend went home and cut off the top.  A few weeks later, the plant had grown new branches and sprouted hundreds of leaves.  His friend said that now that plant is the most cherished and beautiful plant on his compound.  The speaker said that, like the plant, he doesn’t feel ready or adequate enough to fill his calling, but he knows that the Lord knows best, and that through this pruning he will be able to become the leader and man the Lord wants him to be.  There were also excellent talks.  The thought that stuck out in my mind was, one speaker said something like, “If you had the opportunity to be told ONE thing that you could do, that would keep your children from going astray, what would you pay or give to know that secret?  Probably anything, right?  Well, President Kimball promised parents that their children would not go astray if they held meaningful Family Home Evening each week.  Your children may wander for a time, but they will remember the truths that they were taught at some point, and return.”