Agency

Hello Everyone! This week has been quite eventful. 

Tuesday we had our Zone Conference with a few of the Zones together and that was pretty good. Learnt a few things and had some good food. Nothing much really happened after zone conference as it took most of the day. 

Wednesday we were able to meet with Solomon and talk with him. We are finding that he doesn't want to come to church because he doesn't have any church clothes but it seems like there maybe another reason because we tell him it doesn't matter for right now just come haha, he still doesn't come though. We were also able to meet lorretta who is in the legon branch and she has been taught everything so we just came to discuss small about coming to church and things. She comes but she also likes her other church. 

Thursday was very nice. We went around contacting and we met a really cool guy name Gabriel and it just seems he has been waiting for someone to show him the gospel of the truth. He said he used to go to pentecostal church but it didn't feel right with him so he's been looking for something else. Really cool guy. Later that night we had a great Member meal with Brother Seglah and his family. They are a great family. 

Friday we just did some contacting around and we also started an exchange. This is where two sets of missionaries swap companions for a day and night. I went over to Agbogba for Friday night and most of Saturday with Elder Farabee. Was a good time! I was able to learn a lot and see how to teach differently especially in a different area. So that took up Friday night and Saturday. 

Sunday we went to church and was a good church. Very unfortunate that none of the people we are teaching came though but the members were nice along with church. Not much outside of that. 

I'd like to bring up a point that I heard on Sunday though. As some of you may know. People aren't always chillin here in Africa, actually for the most part people aren't. They are always working and hustling. During Sunday school as we are learning about Abraham and Issac and their sufferings, someone asked, "Since God reveals his answers and helps us on his time, does this mean we just suffer until he helps us?" I think this is a very important question we may have all asked to ourselves at some point. Like seriously, do I have to just be here suffering until god helps me? Another person asked, "What if I die before he helps me and I die suffering?" These are all real and important questions right? I'd like to share my answer I gave to the class. I first want to look at the story of Abraham and Issac. Ask yourself, when did God tell Abraham that he wasn't going to be killing his son? Was it before the climb to the mountain? Was it on the way up the mountain? Was it as he was tieing his only son to the altar? No right, it was moments before he would sacrifice him. This is because God was testing Abrahams Faith, he was seeing how much Abraham would trust him, to trust the process. To truly belive this was God's will. God does this throughout all of our lives. He wants to see how much we trust him. It's often that God picks us up right before we think we are done or have tried everything. We all try to look for ways out of things because that's what makes us human. Even Jesus Christ asked Heavenly Father if there was a different way than the Atonement. But after he knew there wasn't he still did it. Because that is thy will. Now to the Suffereing part. I've come to learn that no situation given to us is inherently bad. It's our agency that judges the situation on how we should feel about it and how we should proceed to act on it. God doesn't give us any bad situations, he just gives us situations and we are free to act. Now of course some situations hit harder than others but its our choice on how we look on it and is simply our choice! Everything happens for us and not to us. It's a gift for us and not a stab to us. So we can choose to trust Him by simply seeing what we can learn from this situation. That's all challenges and trails are, just learning experiences. Remember, God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just like Abraham trusted the Lord and he helped him. He will do that same to you. So instead of thinking, when will my suffering stop, think of what can I learn from God in this situation. And then simply trust in him. The sooner we trust that his way is truly the way to our ultimate happiness, the sooner we will be craving for more situations to help us grow to be more like Him. And we will no longer be suffereing but being empowered in knowledge. Hope that makes sense for you all. It's just that the true power of our agency is something really interesting. Because our agency is really the reason why we are here on earth today.

I love and miss you all! Hope you all have a wonderful week and let me know how you are all doing! 

Happy Birthday Mom!! Love you more than you know! 

Best,

Elder Busschau.