Monday, December 6, 2010

Dec 6: Come to Church

Sam's email from Dec 6:

"Dear Family,

As always thank you so much for the emails that you have sent. I am sorry that Dads cancer levels went up, but i have a good feeling about this nanoo technology, so i think everything will be okay.

This week has been a pretty good week for my companion and I. We worked our butts off and the Lord blessed us. We were able to find some sweet new people that we were able to get to come to church. We found an awesome family named the Ks. We first taught the father " Brother L" first and then we were able to get the family to join us the very next lesson.He is a very sweet guy that is a Taxi driver. We first taught him all about Jesus Christ and what he needs to do to follow him. Then we taught him about Joseph Smith and I don't think he really understood, but we could tell the spirit was there. We invited the whole family to church and they all said they would come. On Sunday though the only one to show up was brother L. Which didn't really surprise me because that is usually how it happens here in Ghana. The father will come first and then the family will follow later. So I am really hoping that next week we will be able to get the whole family to come to church. After church i was talking with brother L, he asked me a bunch of questions and he told me he really loved church. The questions he asked were all about what home teaching and things like that was.

Another great thing that happened to us is Sister G brought her family to church which i was so happy about. She brought her son J. and her daughter Ge. Early in the week Sister G and Ge were fighting really bad, but when they were at church it was like the were best friends. Gs Baptism is coming up next week and i am really excited. This lady has made a complete 180. She had a challenge with several commandments that she was able to overcome. She is so ready to be Baptized and i am so excited. I am praying like crazy that nothing bad is going to happen before that day.

Also we contacted a man named S a couple of weeks ago. He told us that he had been to the church several times in a different place in Ghana called Takradi. He had been taught by missionaries before us, so he already knew a lot. As we teach him i can tell he has a testimony. We were talking with him about baptism with him the other day and we invited him to be baptized, but he said he wasn't sure about it. So we invited him to pray about it and we went back the very next day. He said that God answered his prayer and told him that we were leading him in the right direction. So we again invited him to be baptized, but again he said no. I don't know why he is hesitant to make this step, i think it might be some hidden concern or something. We were able to get him to come to church this week and i really hope that helped him. We are going to go and see him on Tuesday and hopefully church did help.

I am learning on mission that getting someone to come to church is a huge tool. When we get people to come to church they feel the spirit that is there and it can be very powerful. The other day i interviewed a man for Baptism. And just before the interview started the man said to me " elder Beck i just want to say, that if i answer any question wrong, to please just teach me and i will learn. I may not know everything, but please i know this is where i am supposed to be. Every time i come here i feel so happy inside and i know it is true." i stopped him and said "don't worry you have already passed" It was cool to be a part of that.

The last person i want to talk to you about is J. J is very ready to be baptized.On Sunday he walked into church with his tithing envelope, ready to give it to the bishop. After his baptismal interview, the zone leader told me that J is very powerful and very ready. His Baptism is going to come on, on Saturday. We are going to try very hard to get his family to come to his baptism. Hopefully that will spark something with them. We have been trying to teach his wife, but she always makes an excuse when we come around.

My companion is doing a lot better this week. When he first got with me, we would go out and contact and he would have the hard time talking to people, but by the end of this week he was going up and contacting people like a champion.

That is about it for me this week. I am doing really good. My area is doing better everyday. I a super excited to talk to you all on Christmas. I hope you have a great week. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely Elder Beck"

Friday, December 3, 2010

Nov 29: Juice Boxes and Champions

Sam's email from Nov 29:

"Dear Family,

This week i got a brand new companion right out of the MTC, his name is elder Macualay, he comes from Nigeria. He is a pretty nice guy that seems to be pretty excited about the work. The first morning he was with me, he woke up at 5am in the morning, turned the light on and said "good morning Elder Beck!" I was not exactly excited about waking up at 5am, so that day i took him out and worked him as hard as i knew how. The next morning he woke up at 6:30. lol. But i like him for the most part, he is a cool guy, and i think we will get along. I am going to miss Elder Jones though, he has left me to be in an all African Apartment.There is me and elder Macaulay, Elder Kargbo from Seria Leon, and elder Maloni from Zimbabwe. They are all pretty cool guys, so i think all will be okay.

I feel like our area is starting to improve. Sister G is now helping us talk to her family, She has 2 children named G and J. G is about 20 years old and has come to church with sister G before, she had a good experience at church, we have given her a book of Mormon and are going back to talk to her more about it tonight. J. is a young boy that is about 14, we haven't been able to talk to him much, but we are hoping this week, we will change that.

We are teaching a man named brother J that is a way sweet guy. He is a very poor man that really has to struggle every day to just get enough money for his family to eat. He is coming to be baptized on the 11th of December and the other day he asked about tithing. When he asked that question my heart dropped because i didn't want to teach him about tithing because of his situation, but i realized we had probably procrastinated long enough and needed to teach him about it. So we went ahead and taught him about it and taught him all the amazing blessings that comes with it. On Sunday he came to church and it amazed me when he asked if he could have a tithe envelope to pay his tithing. I went ahead and got him a tithe envelope as fast as i could. I couldn't believe a man that was struggling so much to get his family even food would come and ask to pay his tithing. Brother J is a way awesome guy that i truly hope the lord will bless very much because of great faith. I was wondering if i was in the situation he was in if i could also pay my tithing.

Last week i think i told you about a guy named R that we are teaching. R really wants to be baptized, but has a bad addiction to Alcohol and smoke. He told us he didnt come to church last week because he had to work. So this week we taught him and made him a calendar that will help him stop drinking and smoking small small. When Sunday came around he called and told us he couldn't come because he didn't feel right going to church as a sinner. I tried to talk to him, but it was hard on to teach him on the phone. So this week we are going to try and talk to him about why we go to church and how church is not for the righteous, but to help the sinners.

One of our recent converts named Is. told us something really cool the other day. Now i dont know if i told you, but Is. used to go out and drink with his friends a lot. So then other day his friends came and where pressuring him to go with them to the bar. They were giving him a lot of trouble, so finally he said okay fine "i will go." So he got there and all his friends bought beers and he bought a juice box and told his friends his was much better than there's. It was cool to see Is. being tested like that, but still standing up strong. I gave Is. one of my white shirts and ties. He wore it on Sunday and looked like a champion.

My mission is going by very fast and i have a feeling that before i know it, i will be back at home with you guys. I am glad that everyone enjoyed thanksgiving. I have to be completely honest, i forgot all about thanksgiving. I mean i was thankful and everything, but i didn't even realize it was thanks giving on that day. Because i am in an all African apartment, so i really didn't have anyone to remind me that it was happening. Well i guess i will tell you what i am thankful for. I am thankful for the awesome family i have and all the awesome emails i get from them. I love you all very much. I am praying for Dad and that his cancer is going to be smaller. Have a great week.

Sincerely Elder Samuel Beck"