The "Rafiki" Lesson...

Hello All my Friends and Family!

This week was kind of cool! As you may or may not know, Monday for us missionaries is our (off day). The day we get to do our grocery shopping, do our laundry, and email our families and friends! (you should ALL email me by the way!)  So one of our recent converts Nicholas found out about this. So last Monday morning we received a phone call from him wishing us a T.G.I.M. (Thank God It's Monday) since that is our off day and not the normal Friday like everyone else! That gave us a pretty good laugh!

In my Easter letter you may remember I talked about Ernest Owusu who was baptized.  We have begun teaching his wife and children as well!  And his wife told us an amazing story!  The current building being used for the church, was purchased from someone with a 20 year contract.  She told us how their family used to reside there with Ernest's older brother and his family.  Ernest's older brother was running for the position of member of parliament and was spending a bunch of money in the process. When he did not win, he found himself almost bankrupt.  So he decided his only option was to sell that house as fast as possible (at the same time the church was looking for a building to buy. So when he sold the house, he then went and told Ernest his family needs to be moved out within 3 days.  So just like that, Ernest's family was sacked from the house. So with no home arrangements and very little work, Ernest's family ended up living in a kiosk.  When the owner of the kiosk found out, he forced them to pay some kind of rent.  Ernest was struggling with work, and this whole time, his brother was refusing to help even though he had enough money for him to be traveling to the US for vacation.  As time went on eventually Ernest found a woodworking business and eventually earned money to buy a house for his family as time went on. Now, Ernest is one of the 3 owners of the company, and the house his family resides in is owned by him. After telling this story, she told us that she wants to come to the church, but she cannot because that building will bring too many bad memories and much sadness.

I then shared with her one of the lessons my mom taught me as a kid.  My mom taught me this lesson about 12,798,398 times. If you have seen "The Lion King" you may remember the part where Rafiki hits Simba in the head with a stick. When Simba asks why he did that, he tells him that it does not matter because it was in the past. Now here is the important part. Rafiki then tells him, "Oh yes, the past can hurt.  But the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it." I shared with her that the past can hurt us very much and maybe even wound us spiritually, but wounds heal and we need to look into the past and realize we cannot change where we have come from, but only where we are going!

I love you all! I hope you enjoyed your week! 

Me odo na empaebo (My love and prayers)

Odo,
Elder Brandt