Missionary work in Wote

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Paul (counselor to Hohoe branch president), Kennedy, Elder Ampiah, Faith Gonu, Elder Mayenga, Derry (Hohoe branch mission leader), Liati Wote, October 20, 2021

October 22, 2021

Hello fellow senior missionaries,

We thought you might be interested in learning what missionary follow up there has been to our Mount Afadja and Tagbo Falls trip last month.

Since certain members of the village contacted us about learning more of the gospel and the Church, a great deal of communication has gone on among President Young of the Accra Mission, the Grovers (the MLS couple in Ho), the Hohoe missionaries, Elder Youngberg, Elder Call, and Faith and Bright who live in Liati Wote.

On Wednesday of this week, Elder & Sister Grover, Elder & Sister Youngberg, two Elders from Hohoe (Elders Ampiah,a Ghanaian, and Mayenga, from the Congo), their branch mission leader (Derry) and one member of a branch presidency (Paul) were in Liate Wote for the missionaries to give a discussion/lesson to Faith, Kennedy and Agnes. Faith and Kennedy were guides during our climb, and Agnes is a village member we had not met before. 

The discussion went very well.  It was basically the 4^th article of faith and “enduring to the end”.  There was a great deal of discussion and questions asked.  Derry and Paul did the translating back and forth, as needed, in English and Ewe. It was perfect planning to bring Derry and Paul along, not just because of their translation abilities, but because they added so much to the learning for these investigators.  All of the Hohoe residents related so well to the investigators and are about the same age.  At the end of the discussion, Faith, Kennedy and Agnes committed to baptism when asked by the missionaries. 

After the discussion, Faith and Kennedy took the four Hohoe residents on a short tour of the Village.  Three other people are lined up for a discussion this coming Wednesday when the Elders return to Wote.  Faith, Kennedy and Agnes will continue with the lessons.  Other village members are interested, so we hope the missionaries are busy in Wote for months to come.  We will see how this develops.

If these baptisms take place, the new members will be traveling to Hohoe (about 30 minutes away) to attend Church until there is sufficient Melchizedek priesthood leadership in Wote to establish a branch.

This is a wonderful start to a beautiful thing all because some senior missionaries took an honest interest in the lives of the Liati Wote villagers.  Those villagers felt something good and want to know more about what that means.

We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Best regards,

Elder Ross L. Youngberg

Assistant to Area Auditor

Africa West Area

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

M 233 24 258 0361

www.comeuntochrist.org

I sent the above email to all of our senior missionary friends working in the Area Office because many of us had gone to Liati Wote (pronounced "lee a tea" "woe tea") in September as part of an excursion we took over three days.  It was a great time.  I will put a blog together on it.  Anyway, we went to this small village of Liati Wote to 1) climb the highest, free-standing mountain in Ghana, Afadjato (Mount Afadja), walk to Tagbo Falls, enjoy a lunch at the Tagbo Falls Lodge while being entertained by a group of young men drummers and young women dancers.  Then we took a walk through the village to see how palm wine and oil are made, cocoa beans are prepared, and how people live in general.

Elaine and I put the whole trip together, and the Liati Wote portion went off so well.  Those who wanted to climb could climb Afadjato and those who wanted to walk did the walk to Tagbo Falls.  We all enjoyed the lunch and the entertainment.

As we toured the village, the senior missionaries took a sincere interest in the lives of the villagers.  We asked many questions, we sat down and talked with them in their yards as best we could because they speak Ewe and we don't, we loved the children and we smiled at everybody.  We learned a lot that day about preparing maize for milling, how cocao beans are prepared for market, how palm oil is made, and apparently many villagers learned about the missionaries, felt something special and good as we visited together.  The next week we were contacted wanting to know more about the Church and to have the missionaries come and visit with them.

Since Liati Wote is about a thirty minute drive from the closest branch in Hohoe, missionaries had not been there before.  It is remote.  Even a small branch needs enough priesthood holders to sustain itself.  Developing a branch takes time, commitment, sincerity and lots of patience and work. (If you look for Wote on google maps, you have to put in "tourist office Liati Wote, Ghana" or you will end up at a place close to the Volta.  Our Wote is close to the Togo border.)  The mission president felt good about the idea and was agreeable to sending the missionaries there to teach and find out just what kind of interest in the Church there truly is.

Elaine and I had to be there when the missionaries gave the first discussion.  I had had many conversations with Faith Gonu, and some with Bright of the village over five weeks and developed a relationship that I hope grows.  We will keep in touch.

After the meeting, we went to the Tagbo ("tag boo") Falls Lodge for the night.  A small place, the only place, in the village where we could find a place to sleep other than with the villagers.  Philomena manages it and does the cooking with a helper.  There are five rooms and a kitchen in the building, and an outdoor eating area.  We slept in our room under mosquito nets with no A/C.  The food is very good and the beds were good.  That means a lot to senior missionaries.

The next day, right after breakfast, we connected with Faith and Kennedy and toured the land they are in the process of developing so they can plant cabbage, tomatoes and okra.  They want to rent three acres and work with five other guys to make it happen.  They have the right connections and a good plan.  It should work.  We also visited with Faith's dad in the bush while he was harvesting cocoa beans.  He knows no English and didn't say much so the conversation was limited.

A good two days.  We drove back to Ho that morning to pick up the Dukes who had stayed the night in Ho so they could meet with a "Pathways" student they are working with who lives in Ho.  He is not a member of the Church.  We all drove home that afternoon and night in a huge rain storm all the way from before Kpong and into Accra.  It rained so hard, the windshield wipers could barely keep up with it.  We made it home safe.

A great adventure in beautiful country with new friends seeking to know more about God.  We hope there is much more to talk about in the future.  

The Church is certainly true and gospel truths are being restored in our day.  You can just feel it.

Have a nice day!