Follow the Spirit and Bear one Another's Burdens

                         Missionary Stories Elder Nyama Atobrah

One night Nyama Atobrah of the Kamasi area in Ghana felt a bit discouraged and wrote as much on an online site. To his surprise his comment received a comment from the United States. Sister Kari Oborn of the Denver, Colorado area felt a motherly compassion for young Nyama Atobrah. She empathized with his feelings and built him up at a time when this young African needed a friend. After exchanging several messages, Sister Oborn asked if Nyama would receive the missionaries. He said that he would indeed meet with the missionaries. Sister Oborn submitted a referral to Church Headquarters for missionaries to meet with young Nyoma Atobrah.

The street address system is not very precise in Ghana. (For example the MTC address is Community 10 Junction, Tema, Ghana.)
The missionaries went to the area where Nyama lived several times and had no success in finding him. One day the missionaries were contacting in that area and were not having any success so they decided to go back to their apartment. Just then a member offered to give them a ride to the apartment. It was a big deal to get a ride and not have to walk the distance to their residence. At the last minute one of the Elders said that he had a feeling that their work was not done yet in that area. They gave up the ride and started contacting again. A few minutes later the missionaries approached a young man and asked if he would be interested in their message. When he replied no, the missionaries did as taught and asked if he knew anyone that might be interested. It so happened that the person they were talking to was Nyama’s brother, who had no idea that he was interested in speaking to the Elders. He pointed to their home and said there is a boy up there that might be interested.

After letting the missionaries in Nyama asked what had take them so long. The Elders looked at each other not knowing what he meant by that remark. Soon they figured out that he was the referral that they had been searching for for quite some time.

After some time our Elder Atobrah was baptized and started a journey that would lead him here to the MTC. Along the way were many bumps in the road. He was disowned by his family and friends but received moral and physical support from his ‘mum’ Oborn across the ocean. Mother and 'adapted' son are bonded together with the cords of the Gospel and the love that comes with service and growth. Elder Atobrah will soon leave the MTC when he will go to Nigeria to serve his mission.