Sunday service at the Haatso Branch

Sunday, August 8, 2021

We chose a branch not too far north of us to visit this Sunday.  The traffic is always good on Sunday mornings and it is an adventure not knowing what the building will look like.  The constant is the warm welcome from the members, old and young.  The saints dress up for Sunday as well, so you meet people looking their best and they feel that way too.  Sunday worship is something these saints take seriously and look forward to.  Their faith is simple and grounded in the basics.  With that said, the Sunday lessons are not remedial.  They are among the best I have attended anywhere we have traveled.  The faith is simple and strong and their understanding of doctrine is mature and generally well taught.  

For example, today the Elders Quorum lesson was on ministering and used Matthew 16:24-27.  They tied it all together and spent the last part of the hour discussing the quorum members and how they could be ministered to.  It was an example of how to do it right.

The RS teacher spent the whole lesson telling the ladies they needed  to get to church on time and how to behave during the sacrament and during the talks. I think the assigned teacher didn't show up and that was the topic on the RS president's mind. 

The chapel is in a building that stands apart from the classrooms and offices.  Unusual.  We heard singing and entered the back of the chapel to find a seat.  One fellow would choose a hymn, begin to play the hymn from his phone using the the gospel library app then everyone would begin singing.  This went on for twenty minutes as members entered the chapel and joined in.  Since the singing started before we got there, I wonder how long this went on. The singing, with all the added voices, was louder and louder until it was time to begin the service.  It was by far the loudest hymn singing we have heard in all of AWA.  The singing is not in tune, but it is with vigor.  When I hear it, I still miss my Tongan saints who sing with vigor, in tune, and in a special way that uplifts a person's spirit.  You cannot avoid feeling it.

During the service, I could hear singing from another part of the neighborhood.  It was likely the Pentecostals.  My experience with them is they sing loud and long with attempt, I think, to work themselves up into a frenzy.  Just my thoughts.  Their music stopped with about ten minutes to go in our meeting.

The branch leadership is strong.  President Achaempong is a banker and a young man.  He has organized his leadership in a thoughtful and mature way.  I am impressed.  We had a great meeting with him and some of his bishopric.  

We met the sister missionaries as we were preparing to leave.  They had a large group of young women with them.  We thought it was the YW classes, but no.  They were all investigators! They showed up half way into sacrament meeting, and I think that is why we had the lesson on being on time in RS. These young women were in RS and the teacher kept asking them if they would commit to being on time next week. They kept giggling and that made her upset. Now that I know they are investigators I have to wonder if they will come back at all.  The branch doesn't have much youth (the sacrament was taken care of by the elders and no YM), so they have been making an effort to change that.  The youth go away to boarding school if they can, so this accounts for some of the lack of youth.  Here is a picture of the sisters and the young women.

We will have to check back to see how the teaching goes.  They were a polite and energetic bunch.  Can you easily pick out the Sister Missionaries from the girls?  The youth are in "middle school" classes, so they are early teens.