Adenta Stake Conference.

Sunday, May 25th, we attended Stake Conference in Adenta Stake. We went with Elder and Sister Hill. They are in charge of security for the Africa West Area. We arrived an hour early and got to sit in the 5th row. They announced in the meeting that there were 1735 people in attendance. They came in buses, they came in tro-tros, they came in taxis, they walked, and some who have truly prospered came in cars.

The Stake President is John Koranteng. When we pulled him up on the CDOL (Church Directory of Leaders-a SLC Church database with limited access) the first week in May we noticed his photograph was a picture of an Obruni! (a white man) He came into our office a week or so ago and we showed it to him. He said some Obruni Stake President is really going to be surprised when he sees a Ghanaian man for his picture!!

This man is young – I would guess in his 30’s, but he is amazing in his knowledge and faith in the gospel. I was so impressed with his talk today. He was very inspired and knew how to relate his thoughts in parables the people could understand. As he told his parrables he also lead us on a journey through the scriptures to establish his point.

He spoke of being a light and of being salt. Salt can chemically change so easily. He spoke of obedience as the key to keeping our salt in the form of salt, not chlorine or some other solution. He talked about driving to work in the morning early at 4am and finding the dawn getting more bright to the point lights were not needed to see and what a relief that is. That this is what we are like when we are being obedient. We can see with assurance that as we increase in light, we can see our way in difficult situations, and we will be at peace. With each act of obedience we move further into the light. He then compared driving at dawn to driving at dusk as the sun goes down and it gets darker…that is the way our life is with each act of disobedience…our light gets darker and we cannot see our way. We become filled with fear and worry and have more trials than there should have been.

He related a story of men traveling: men who were told to fill their bags with pebbles. Some filled them with large ones, some with medium sized pebbles, and some with very small pebbles. When they got to the end of their journey they opened their bags to find their stones had turned into pearls and jewels. Those who put large pebbles or stones in their bags were filled with riches. Those who choose medium stones or pebbles were delighted when they opened their bags, but wished they had put large pebbles in their bags. Those who put small pebbles in their bags had very small pearls and jewels.

We choose likewise how we will embrace the gospel. Will we just show up at church on Sundays for the appearance? Will we occasionally open the Book of Mormon to read? Will we serve others? Will we be determined to make temple covenants with the Lord after baptism? Will we pray with our hearts morning and night or will we say the same thing (I call them celing prayers)? Will we read our scriptures every day? Will we study the scriptures or will our scriptures sit on the shelf and get covered with dust? Will we strive to live according to the words of our Prophets so that we can have the spirit in our lives, or will we selectively choose to do things we agree with, or choose activities that will take the spirit away? Will we listen and obey the Holy Ghost? Will we seek to improve ourselves through repentence? Each day we make chooses that determine whether our bags are filled with small, medium, or large pebbles. At the end of our journey, Christ will fill our bags with jewels according to the stones we chose to carry. He quoted Mosiah 2:20-22: When we keep his commandments all he desires is to bless us and prosper us.

President Koranteng spoke of standing in Holy Places and said it takes practice to Stand in Holy Places. He said we must FIND holiness. He spoke of obedience turning into sacrifice when we say “not my will be done but let thy will be done.” Sacrifice is when we follow God or the spirit even when it makes little sense to the way we reason things. When we do His will He strengthens us.

“Being in the Kingdom", he said, "is like climbing the stairs." Sometimes you get tired. Sometimes it gets hard to keep climbing. You want to just stop for a while. Some want to give up, but when you keep going through sacrifice, the Lord strengthens you to climb the stairs.

Again the spirit bore testimony to me that the gospel in its fulness is restored. That the spirit works in the lives of people all over the world.