Leadership is stessfull

President Hill,

Odorkor ward is doing well! I was pleased to see so many recent converts at sacrament meeting show up before the long time members. 

We had an interesting experience in the District on Tuesday. I hadn't really planned any official instruction for District Council Meeting, but I thought it would be a good idea to practice/review the written lesson plans. We did some role plays. Personally, I hate role plays but now I have a testimony of them. We were teaching the restoration in 5 minutes or less. I was the investigator (acting as someone we taught in the week previous) and two Elders were the missionaries. First, they go into Christ establishing a church and the nature of God. It ended up taking about 10 minutes and wasn't a very good lesson.

We then counseled as a District on how it can improve. We decided, going straight to Joseph Smith and the restoration is much more effective! We practiced again. The second time it was much better. My companion and I started putting those short powerful lessons into practice. We were surprised! We got to see more people, we really saw all the concerns they have clearly. We can see who's serious about our message and who's not. The spirit was really leading our DCM. One missionary mentioned how it was the best District meeting the District has ever had. I was so happy that the Lord took control of the meeting.

It's stressful being a leader. I'm really trying my best. I struggle with being bold with missionaries, my fear is that sometimes correcting people actually causes a much bigger problem, especially if they're not humble. I think it's like when I'll be a father and have a stubborn 17 year old son who doesn't want to listen to me. 

My companion is doing great still. We're working on improving our lessons and teaching skills. We're going to try and get a 5 minute lesson plan for lesson 2 and 3. 

Odorkor 3 (Elder Robertson and Elder John) have had a rough week. They were only in their area a few times this week due to companionship exchanges and going to Accra on Thursday. They did well if we take all those challenges into consideration.

Odorkor 2 (Elder Joseph and Elder Kanu) also had a challenging week. I think they're learning patience

Well we're finding, teaching and baptizing! The Lord and the members can really trust us. Even yesterday, after church, a member invited us over and had the TV on. It was some awesome action film. At the beginning of my mission I would have asked him to turn it off straight away but I guess over time I've become content with things like that, which is wrong. Brother Ewudzie asked us if the movie is ok and I felt compelled to ask if he has anything else, particularly a church movie. He said he had 17 Miracles.

Nobody wanted to watch that, including myself. I had never seen it but had heard a lot about it. I told him that we'll watch that instead. Some missionaries weren't happy with that decision. By the end of the movie we were all feeling the spirit. I told them "now that was a much better movie to watch." It's tough to make decisions when people are against you. I took courage and knew what we were and weren't supposed to do. The blessings came from doing what's right.

My companion and I will be bringing another candidate for a special interview on Thursday. I think we'll also bring a member to translate. 

I'm pleased with my work. I'm working diligently. Teaching short powerful lessons makes the work much more exciting and lively. It shows the importance and foundation of our message.

In my studies this week, I read in Moses 5:42 that Cain had a son named Enoch. This is a different Enoch than the one from Seth. I thought to myself "Satan really does have a counterfeit for everything good." 
I also read in Moses 5:23 "If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and Satan desireth to have thee"

If we are busy doing good things, we'll never need to sin because we won't have time for it. Now I see why you said you'll feel like a failure if you have to talk much about obedience. If we missionaries are so busy in good things, we'll be effective. The Church really is true!

Thank you for all that you do. I really appreciate all the encouragement and advice and counsel. May God bless you until next week.

-Elder Jordan Schmeltzer