Thursday, January 14, 2010

Catch- Up

Here are a few more excerpts from Sam's emails since last I updated:

"So, I was emailing you last Monday and my companion and I's phone rang . Elder Farnbach answered it and then said " we gotta go! Elder Omale was just hit by a car!" We got off right away and started sprinting to the hospital. The hospital was not much, just a building that said hospital on it. We ran inside and we saw elder Hicks standing there like he had just seen a ghost.(Elder Hicks is Elder Omales companion) Elder Farnbach went and talked to the front desk and I went to elder Omales room. When i got to the room i saw Elder Omale laying there on a table, he was not moving. The so called doctor was kind of shaking him, i think to wake him up. I just stood there for like a minute staring at him from the door way. Then all of the sudden he started to wake up. I walked over to him and he looked up at me really confused and said "Elder Beck?" He could not remember his mission, he thought he was back home in Nigeria. He was asking a lot of questions about what was going on. We tried to answer as much as we could. About an hour later he sat up. The Nurse came in and asked him about his family. He just looked at her and yelled "these are my brothers" and then pointed to us. It was kind of like a Remember the Titans moment. It was also way cool that Elder Omale had forgotten everything about his mission, but he could still remember we were his brothers. The mission president finally arrived from Accra. He took Elder Omale and Elder Hicks back to Accra where they could go to a real hospital. Elder Omale recovered very well, he came back to the apartment the next day. He even went out and proselyted a little bit. He could remember everything, but an hour before the accident. He said " ill I remember is waking up and Elder Beck was standing there next to me." This Experience really made me realize something very important. God is watching over his Missionary's. Elder Omale was hit by a truck, flew through the Air 30 feet from where he stood, was knock unconscious for more than 15 minutes, received very little medical attention, and then was able to go back out and proselyte the next day. I do not think anyone can say that this was anything short of a miracle. God is really watching over his Missionary's.

I also had a pretty cool experience on Tuesday. There is a man named brother S. He has been to church like 3 times,but we have not been able to make it to his house because he live very very far away in a village called Ahyntia. My companion and I were trying to catch a Tro Tro there, but none were coming . Then all of the sudden this super super nice government car pulled over. The window rolled down and there was a man he said "do you missionary's need a ride?" We were like "YEAH!" and then hoped in. It was kind of like a small hummer with very very nice AC. It turned out that the man was a member of the church, he was someone really important high up in the government. He drove us for a while and then i thought he was going to drop us off at this junction in a place called Awhto, where we we have to catch another car out to the village. The man insisted that he should take us all the way there. He turned down the junction road and drove us all the way to the village. I had never been to the village before so i had no idea how far it really was. i felt bad because of how far he drove us. I thanked him very much many times. I kept saying" Madasee, Madasse,"which means thankyou.When i was getting out i went to shake his hand and he handed me a 20 CD bill.He said "its probably not gonna be cheap to get out of here." I was amazed, no, i was stunned. The last 2 months i have been in a Refugee camp where everyone begs for money. Then all of the sudden this man is handing me a 20 CD bill. I never even seen a 20 CD bill!If you haveint figured out 20 CDs is a lot of money in Ghana. I tryed to say no, but he insisted. He gave me his card and then drove off. My head was spinning from this mans Kindness. I will never forget him.
Ahyntia is probably the coolest place i have been yet. Everyone there lived in Huts and mud houses. The man S we taught was way cool also. After we were done he made us go out and walk through his farm lands . It was awesome, i could not see anything but wilderness for miles. Next time i go there i am going to take a hundred pictures. When we needed to leave we waited for a car for about 30 minutes, they only charged us 1 CD to get all the way back to Buduburam. So now we have money to go and see S a lot though. That trip would usauly cost us like 4 CDs. Tuesday was one of the coolest days on my mission thus far."


"Dear family,

Its Christmas today here in Ghana. I woke up this morning and i thought everyone would be at there homes with there families, well i at least i thought that some people would be at there homes with there families. I walked out the door this morning and the streets of Kasoa were busier than ever. Nobody seems to care that its Christmas.My companion and i set up the trains and nativity and put them on the table. Another Elder in our apartment elder Bills parents sent him fake snow. So we snowed up the trains and nativity a lot. Aparently it was snowing when jesus was born. Or at least thats my image of it. Mom im looking really hard for a nativity for you, i dont think ill find one in Kasoa or Buduburam, but i was talking with some people and theres and art market somewhere in accra where you can take any picture of any thing and the will carve it for you. So next time im in accra im going to try and find it for you. Maybe one day ill be transfered there and ill be able to get a bunch of cool carvings. Everything in ghana is super cheap, so ill probably be able to get a decent amount.

I hope everyone is having a great christmas back in the states. Remember to be thankfull for what you have. Be thankfull for things like carpet. I didnt relize how much i would miss little things like that.Carpet is great great blessing. So everybody better look down at your carpet and say "thankyou carpet, Youve always been there for me."

I love you so much....have a super Merry Christmas..

Love Elder Beck

P.S.
I m really excited to call you today!"

No comments: