Except a Man Be Born of Water

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope you all had another great week. Ours was busy, exhasuting, hot, and full of joy. Much of our time this week was spent focusing on our candidates for baptism and going around the zone to do interviews for other missionaries candidates. It was a week of baptizing! Sadly, one of our candidates will have to wait on her baptism. She is staying with a man who is not technically her husband. They are trying hard to work out the marriage, but her parents are not willing to accept the man. According to the customs and traditions of Ghana that means they can not have their traditional wedding. We will keep working with them and hopefully work something out. Sister Theresa on the other hand had no problems come up and she was baptized on Saturday morning. She was so happy at her baptism. She was smiling the whole time. Theresa is 26 years old. She was born in Togo, but raised in a foster home in Ghana. She has a sweet and humble spirit and a deep love for the simple truths of the Gospel. On Sunday she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

All of the focus on baptism this week caused me to reflect on why baptism is so important and so central to the Gospel path. The Savior taught us that "except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." But why did He teach that baptism is necessary for us to return to our Heavenly Father? As I searched the scriptures and thought about it I drew some conclusions. First, as we are baptized we are following the example of our Savior. As Nephi taught, if the Savior, who was perfect, had need to be baptized, how much greater is our need to be baptized by water. Second, baptism is a sacred ordinance through which we can make covenants with God. We covenant that we will take the name of Christ upon us, that we will keep God's commandments, and that we will serve him throughout our lives. Without such covenants we can not be truly bound to our Father in Heaven. Third, if we have fully repented of all of our sins those sins will be washed away in the ordinance of baptism. Without such a cleansing we would be unclean and unfit to enter God's kingdom. Fourth, baptism prepares us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Without this great Comforter from God we would be lost. We would not be able to continue faithfully down the path our Savior has outlined for us. I know, just as the Savior taught, that baptism is an important step in bringing us in line with our Father's will. 

Here is the excitement from this week. Last night when my companion was putting his clothes in water to soak he called me over. There was a scorpion swimming in the water with his clothes. It had been hiding in his dirty laundry. Scorpion number three! This week I also found FRESCA at a little shop by our apartment. I have not seen Fresca in 20 months!!! The lady had four cans and I bought them all. Last night we enjoyed them with some members. 

My time for the week is up! I love you all so much. Thanks for continuing to support and love me. I am so grateful for all of you. I am grateful to be a missionary. I love this work and I love my Savior. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Radmall

Questions from Momma:

Q. What made you laugh this week?

A member gave us some fruit juice in a bottle to take to our apartment. That night we each poured ourselves a cup of it and started drinking. It seemed really strong, but we kept drinking. Finally we decided something must be wrong with this drink. Upon inspecting the bottle very closely we learned that it was a concentrate. You have to dilute it with water. It makes 17 servings and we drank half of the bottle in one sitting. Haha oops. 

Q. How many inches long was the scorpion in last week’s photo (cause it looked big!!!)?

Not too long. Maybe 4 or 5 inches. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much is your finger hurting?  Can you send a photo?

It really doesn't bother me at all. It just looks kind of funny. 

Q. What was the best moment of your week?
Seeing Theresa baptized and confirmed! 

Update on Elder Winborg, Bryan's former companion who was in the car accident with Bryan.  (Taken from a blog by the Pace's, a senior couple in Accra.)  Elder Akwara, his companion, currently has chicken pox, and they are required to stay indoors until the incubation period is over.  

On our way to Ho we stopped in a community called Kpong to check on these missionaries. Elder Winborg, in front, was the one in the car accident a few weeks ago.  He still has headaches but has more color and is generally doing well.  Elder Akwara, from Nigeria, was smiling in the picture.  Little did we know that we would return to make a medical visit for him on the way home.