3/10/2014 - BIG MIRACLE with a dowry, Afi baptized



Hey family!  

hows life back home?  this week has flown by so quickly!  life is great.  we had a baptism this last saturday.  her name is afi.  her husband is a member that got baptized in ghana.  A couple came to help us get to kegue to save on a taxi but at our designated spot no one was there.... we waited half an hour with the couple. no one.  so we decided to stop by her house.  when we got there we saw her husband who was rushing to get ready he said he just barely got back from work and that his wife wasn't there.  neither of them have phones so we asked the neighbors if they knew where she went.  one said she went to the church.  and so off we went.  but she wasn't there.  we decided to go back to our meeting place thinking maybe we missed her.  we get back there and still nothing.  at this point were about an hour and a half late for our rendezvous [appointment] and the baptism starts in 30 minutes.  we decided that the last ditch effort is just to go back to her home and see if she's there again.  and.... yep we found her.  she went to get her hair done.  which if i've never said takes FOREVER.  they could do it all day long attaching fake hair to their heads.  anyways..... she got baptized, that's the important part.

other news.... elder kognani just got called as assistant.  he was in attiegou with me for a really long time.  that'll be awesome.  he called me last night and i didn't believe him until we called the assistants and they confirmed it.  haha the missions always full of surprises.  i'm trying to think what else happened this week.... not sure.  this week we have interviews again with president.  then on friday we have a leadership training for the mission.  it should be fun.  ahhh! just got a call from the couple and we got kpalime confirmed for next monday.  so well be heading out into the jungle again. should be exciting.  i've been in togo for a really long time haha.  

THE BIGGEST MIRACLE!! we've been teaching this family.  Joel is the father.  i think i've explained a little bit of their story but they are amazing.  they've been coming to church for about 3 months now and have needed to pay the dowry to get baptized. his wife is from the north of benin.  transport to get to their village is 13000 cfa to get there, 26000 there and back for one person.  that's about 50 bucks there and back.  and he said he normally needs to take about 5 people with him..... and then the ridiculously expensive dowry..... basically it wasn't looking good. but after a huge long process many prayers and discussions this last week he paid it!!!! nothing short of an absolute miracle.  it's not that he won the lottery or anything but he worked with the bishop and cut a lot of corners which made it so only he had to go to cotonou and not really pay anything.  i'm not sure you can really understand how impossible this was to do.  in fact, i was on a split on Wednesday, the day we saw him and i came back and asked how it went and Elder Rav said he's going to pay before sunday.  i said quoi?!? no how what? he explained it and i was so astounded.  he'll be baptized with his family on the 29th of this month.  the whole story from the finding of them to the dowry is just full of miracles it is unbelievable. the day of miracles has not ceased.

i love you all! got to go! have a great week! 

Elder Rybin