Rastafarians and Sign Language

Sam's email this week:

"Dear family,

Thank you so much for the emails and the packages you sent. I loved the Emails and i loved the packages. I got 2 packages. 1 was the DHL. Thank you a ton for the tape, i really liked it, please send more of those and if you send me Blank tapes i can send some back. I also loved the Doredoes, i ate them all in one sitting on Sunday night. Elder Ewudzie ate all the homemade cookies you sent, he loved them. I had some too, they were pretty delicious. I also got another package from dear elder.com, that had a ton of cookies, thank you they are great. I am way happy to hear that Dads cancer Markers are low. I am started to feel really good about the whole thing now, but dad, dont go back to work too soon. Mom i am glad your down visiting aunt Julie, tell her i also love her and say hello.

I had some pretty cool experiecnes this week. The other day Elder Ewudzie and i were taking a trotro back from our district meeting. This Rastafarian got in the trotro and sat next to me. I was a little nervous because Rastafarian's are known in Ghana for beating the crap out of white guys. So i was sitting there and i got the thought maybe i should talk to him. So i turned and faced him, but for some weird reason i didnt say anything. I sat there for a some seconds facing him not saying a word. He finally turned and looked at me, I immeditaly jerked myself back to facing forward making a little bit of noise while i did it. I sat there frozen in fear not knowing what to do and He kind of laughed and said "hey are you a latter day saint?" I responded "why yes, Yes i am." Well i ended up talking to him for a little bit and found out his name was TT. before i left i went ahead and gave him our phone number. I really thought he would probably just throw it away, but a couple of days past i heard the phone ring. I answered and to my surprise i heard " eeh, this is TT the Rosta Mon" It seriously made my Day. For some reason i was way happy to hear his voice. I think partly because he has a way cool accent, but mainly because i really think he has a strong interest in the church. We haven't been able to meet with him yet, but i am hoping that very soon we will.

Another thing that happened to us is that a member came up and told us he want us to baptize his 11 year old daughter. The catch was that she is deaf and doesn't know how to speak sign or any thing. So i called president smith to see if we could baptize her, he said sure as long as she can pass the baptismal interview. I tried to make the point that she doesn't speak English or sign. He got a little mad at me and told me that this was the only way. So on Wednesday we went and visited her, she knew a few signs that her and her family made up. I was there trying to teach her signs that i remembered from high school. The whole time I kept thinking gosh dangit i wish i would have payed attention in Mr.Selbys Class. We also showed her some pictures, and everytime she saw a picture of christ she pointed up.I think she was pointing to heaven. Now i have no idea how she knew that christ is up in heaven, but she knew. She honstly doesnt know her own name but she knows that christ is up i heaven. We also showed her a picture of a little girl that was being baptized, she pointed to the picture and then herself. It was a way awesome experiecne. We are going to continue to try and teach her with pictures using any signs i can remember.

I think i have now completley adapted to my new area, i wouldent be suprized if i was here a long time. It sounds like everyone is doing good at home. Sorry that i didnt get a Email off last week. Please let me know if this one is long enough. Thankyou so much.

Love Elder Sam Beck"

Flat Tires and 1000 Roaches

Sam's email this week:

"Dear family,

I am very glad that everyone had a great week. It sounds like Dad is doing really well. Like always i am fasting and praying for him and the rest of the family.

My week was pretty good this week. I don't know if i have told you, but my area is very far and all we have are 2 broken bikes. So we usually walk, but on Tuesday we decided to get them fixed. So we worked on them, bought new tires and fixed them out as best we could. We took them out for the day and my companions bike worked great, but my bikes tire popped about 4 times and we ended up walking again but also with our bikes. So then we were back to walking again, it reminds me of all the hikes i went on when i was back home. I think i could hike any mountain very easy now.

Oh yeah mom i will answer your question about the appartment. Our appartment is pretty nice compared to Kasoa, but its very smsall. To be honest i like kasoa better. The thing that sucks about this one is that we have 1000 roaches everywhere. We come home at night and before we turn on the lights i hear them crawling all over the table. When the lights come on they scatter everywhere and we go crazy trying to kill them all. I think the roaches are our fault for leaving our food out. There used to be 4 of us in the appartment , but as of today there will only be 2, Elder Ewudzie and my self. Elder Ewudzie and i are gonna try to clean the place up real nice and keep it way clean so all the roaches will go away. Well we hope they go away.

I didnt get the chance to watch conference out here, but i guess in a couple of weeks they will let us watch them in church. Im not sure if this man spoke, but there is a seventy in my ward. His name Ahadjie. He always invites us over to eat. He has a way nice house, the only one i have seen with a Basketball hoop. So i dont know if he spoke, but i know he went.

Well i am sorry, but i am running out of time. thankyou again for the emails. I am writhing letters describing my area in more detail and they should be there in a couple of weeks. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Sam Beck"

Holy Ghost Fire! Holy Ghost Fire!

Sam's email this week:

"Dear Family

The computers are going very very slow.It has taken me about 1 hour to just read your emails. I am glad that dad is still recovering nicely and it makes me laugh to know you guys almost celebrated Easter a week early. My companion and i also made you a short tape recording. but i don't think i can send it because of the computers, but i will try next week.

As for me i think i am doing very well. Elder Ewudzie and I are starting to get along much better. We both just woke up one day and decided that we should be brothers. You asked if New Lagon was a university town. From what i understand there is a university here, i am not exactly sure where, but i am pretty sure there is one around. I hope that answers your question. New Lagon is pretty nice area, the only hard part as I told you last time is that the church is so far away. The church is in a town called Adenta which is one of the towns next to New Lagon. Adenta is pretty nice little town that actually is where we live. We live in Adenta in a place called the Flatts and we ether walk or ride our broken bikes to New Lagon, which is not easy.

We are teaching a pretty good group of people. One of them named B frustrates the heck out of me though. He keeps telling us there is really about, well he would say, a thousand and one ways to get to heaven. He says he believes in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We keep reading with him in both books that there is only one way to heaven, but he refuses to believe us. Elder Ewudzie and I are starting to worry though that hes not exactly all there, but we are not ready to give up on him yet.

Another man we just started to teach named P lives out in a place called Nana Crom(which is still part of our area.) We have a branch missionary out there that has found this young guy. We went out Sunday morning and convinced P to come to church with us. So we took a tro tro to a neighboring town and then made about a 30 to 45 minute walk to the church. I worry that he wont come next week because it was so far. People here in Ghana really have to have a strong faith in order to join the church.

I am learning though that it is very easy to change some peoples minds, not everyone, but some. For example that other night Elder ewudzie were walking home. So guy yells at us as we walk by "ill cut you!" Now i have heard many people say this phrase many times so i just decide to yell back "No you wont!" The guy just says "oh okay." It made Elder Ewudzie and I laugh, i think he must have been drunk or something.

I actually have a lot of interesting experiences walking home at night. Another one i had i think on Thursday. We were walking home and it was pretty dark. We walked through this field kind of by our apartment. There was bunch of people in the field running around screaming like a bunch of fools. I asked Elder Ewudzie what they were doing and he said "praying." I was like "ha ha yeah right," but as we got closer that's what they were really doing or that's what they thought they were doing. There was on guy jumping up and down as fast as he could clapping his hands chanting something. Another guy ran by us screaming "Holy Ghost Fire, Holy Ghost Fire." Now i have to admit the Holy ghost fire guy made me laugh, but the rest if the people made me very sad. It made me sad because it shows that Satan has taken the gospel here and twisted it so much, that people think they are doing right when really they are not at all. I guess that's why the church is here and spreading so fast in Ghana, because the people here are really ready for the truth.

Well that's about it for my week.I am glad Joey is having fun in baseball. Thank you very much for sending those packages. I am very excited to get them. I am going to try and send some cool African stuff home soon. So be expecting that. I know I cant do a lot to help, but if there is anything i can do please let me know. I hope you all have a great week, and i really hope this email makes it to you. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Sam Beck

-please tell me when dads next scan is as soon as you find out?

-i know you just sent some packages, but if you get a chance could you send me some face wash? thank you."

New Legon, Ghana

Sam's email this week:

"Dear Family,
Thankyou so much for all the emails. Its always nice to hear from you guys. I am very glad to hear that Dad is doing well. I fasted for him on sunday.

This week has been long. Last Monday i woke and i was in Buduburam and now i am waking up in a place called New Lagon.

It is a lot different than Buduburam. Its richer than Buduburam but not amazing. When i come out of my apartment i feel like i am in the poor part of LA. My area is about a 1 to 2 hour walk to church. So its not easy geting people to come. The work here is a lot harder too, because the people have a little more money they push us away. I really never thought i would say i miss being in a liberian refugee camp, but i really really do. I miss buduburam so much. The people there were so awesome. Im going to work as hard as i can though and maybe my companion and I can turn it around. Oh my companions name is Elder Ewudzie, he is a ghanaian from capecaost. Hes a pretty cool and relaxed guy, a little quiet though. Ive only known him a couple of days but, I think we will get along for the most prat though. I want to tell you about my area more, but to be honest it is really just a big blur to me. Its a huge area and i never really know where i am at. I think by the end of this week though i should have it down.

This whole week i was really worried that no one would come to church. I worked very hard to get anyone i could to come. I remember a women espesialy that we were teaching. the lesson was going great the spirit was there and i could tell she was feeling it. At the end of the lesson i asked her the question " E, will you come to church this sunday?" She immeditaly looked down, i started praying in my heart "pleese say yes, pleese say yes." The silence seemed like it went on forever, but finally she looked up and said "i will come." It warmed my heart so much, it made me relize though that it wasnt me that got her to say yes. It was the spirit. It oddly was a humbling experiecne for me. It wasnt me that got her to say she would come. The most wonderfull part of this though is that when sunday roled around she was at church waiting for it to start.

Thankyou so much for all you do for me. Everyone pleese keep a close eye on dad for me. I love you so much. I hope you all have a wonderfull week.

Love Sam

P.S.- jenny have fun in disneyland!"

Buduburam Orphans

Sam's email this week:

http://www.africaheartwoodproject.org/buduburam_orphanage.php

"Dear Family,

I am very glad that Dad is doing well. I have been praying as hard as i can. Tell Ricky thank you for being there to help comfort him for me. I love looking at the pictures.He looks like he is doing really good. I have so many questions about him but i don't even know where to start. Just try and tell me more about what is going on with him.

So it turns out that i will be transfered this Wednesday. I am not sure where i am going yet , but i am sure that i am that i will be transfered because Elder Farnbach is training. I kinda hope i go out to the bush, but i am not sure if thats really what i want. (if that makes sense) I am really gonna miss Buduburam. I have made friends with so many people here. I am gonna miss all the Orphans a lot. I haven't told you much about the orphans, but basically i have been trying to get them baptized for a long time. I have spent a lot of time trying to talk president Smith into the idea. He always says no because they are children and there would be no one there to help them keep coming to church. Some of those kids have promised me that they will keep coming to church, but i have to listen to president. Elder Farnbach has promised me that he will never give up on the quest to get the orphans Baptized so i think even with me gone we still got a shot. There is a women here named Sister S here. That is absolutely awesome. She was practicality the first person to welcome me to Buduburam and i will also miss her.

A little about my week though, we met this crazy guy that has been contacted that is from this crazy apostate group of our church. It was pretty freaky how much anti stuff he had about the church. I told Elder Farnbach to be care full about taking the new guy to see him. It would be a shame to see someone loose there testimony because of him. I wanted to ask Dad and Nate if they ever ran into anti stuff on there missions? In the end though Elder Farnbach and I shut him down, he said he wanted to back and study some more and then come back and talk. So we just bore our testimony's to him and let him go.

On Wednesday we went in and had Zone conference. There was an Elder talking to us that was leaving to go home in a couple of days. He was talking about knowing what to teach when to teach it. I have read and have been taught that the spirit is the main thing that guides you when you teach. Now the way this Elder was talking he made it sound like he had some tricks to knowing what to teach. So i raised my hand and asked "so what is the trick?" He just smiled at me and said "Now thats the question that everybody need to know the answer to" then he explained to us that it really just boils down to the spirit. A person could be asking questions about the word of wisdom and you could need to teach them about something that has nothing to do with that . It became extremely clear to me at that moment that the only way you can truly know what to teach is by following the spirit. Since then i have been trying very hard to listen. Sometimes it is very hard to recognize it, but it is there and if you listen very closely it will guide you.

Please just keep me updated on everything.Tell jenny and joe that i have a good feeling about everything that is going on with dad and i have high hopes that the cancer is completely gone. I apologize for my short Emails lately, next week i promise to tell you about every inch of my new Area. I love you all so much and please let me know if there is anything i can do. I love you.
Love Sam

P.S. your the best family in the whole world"

A Stay in the Hospital and Malaria

Sam's email this week:

"Dear Family,
Thank you so much for the Emails i loved them so much. I am very sorry it has taken me until Wednesday to email. I had my first encounter with Malaria . I woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday feeling like crap . I toughed it out through the night and woke up and called Sister Smith (we are suppose to call her when we are sick). She told me i should probably start taking my Anti Malaria medication that the mission had given us. So i started taking the Medication and decided that i should still go to church. If it was a normal day i would have stayed home and rested, but it was Sunday. Because it was Sunday, i had to go to church to see if my investigators were going to come. Well i went to church and got a big punch in the face from Malaria. We ended up rushing back to the apartment and then rushing to the J and C Hospital in Accra (which is more like a half hospital).The trip was not easy at all. I ended up staying at the hospital until Tuesday night. I got a total of 10 shots, all in my butt, 5 for each check. It was not nice at all. The whole experience went from a way to high fever to throwing up everywhere to various other horrible things which i wish not to talk about at this time. I won't bore you with all the details, i will just tell you it was one of the most terrible experiences of my entire life.I will give you some advice, never ever never ever get Malaria! Ever!

I am a lot better now, i am very happy the experience is over. I have learned a couple of very important things. First always sleep in a mosquito net. Second always put on mosquito repellent. Third alway remember to take your doxy (which i aways do) And last do all you can to avoid the mosquitos. These are now my rules that i am going to try to live by. The other missionaries say the first time is the worst, but still i do not want to take any chances.

The week leading up to this experience happened to be great though. On Wednesday we had the wonderful opportunity of going into Accra and hearing Elder Holland speak to us. I was way awesome. The man is a true Apostle of god.

We also had a very nice Baptism on Saturday. Brother W got to baptize the rest of his family. It was way cool to help complete a family like that.

I don't have a lot of time on the computer right now, but we are going to try and take some time and come back either tonight or sometime tomorrow so i can finish emailing you. I love you all so much. If i don't get a chance i want you to have a great week.
Love Elder Beck"

Toilets in Africa Flush Straight Down

Sam's email last week (I'm a week late posting):

"Dear Family,

I want to answer Joeys question right now so i don't forget. When you flush the toliet here, it does not spin it just goes strait down. I don't know if that's because we have a crap toilet or if it is because i am so close to the equator, but i have a sneaking suspicion it is because of the Equator. It sounds like the family is recovery from all the sickness.

This week has gone by pretty fast for me. Wednesday night i got to go to another area. I went to a place called Adorko for a 24 hour split with the zone Leaders. The Adorko apartment is way nice compared to mine in Kasoa. It was really hot that night so me and Elder King slept out on there Balcony. It was a lot cooler out there but the downside was that i got eaten alive by Mosquitoes. It was not so nice. The next day was pretty fun, i went proselyting in there area. It was nice to see more of Ghana. The area in Adorko is a lot richer than Buduburam. I think Buduburam is the poorest area in the mission by the way. It was really crazy to see people with real live houses. They weren't nice houses, but they were houses.

Then on friday we went in for interviews with the president and also got to go to the temple. The Temple was so awesome, the spirit was way way strong there. When i was in there i just kept thinking it has to be impossible for someone to come here and to not feel the spirit. After words i was able to buy some really cool African ties that i am going to send home really soon. I also learned there that Elder Holling is coming to speak to us. He is coming on Wednesday, i am way excited, i am going to meat an Apostle!!

Mallory you know how you said you get scared when you have to say prays in front of large groups. Well i know exactly how you feel. On Sunday when it was time for Brother W to be confirmed the bishop stood up and said Elder beck will be doing the confirmation. It caught me by surprise really bad. i was walking up there thinking about what i should say and i realized that i didn't even know how to start the prayer. Well i got up there and started to do the confirmation. And by the way most African think prayers need to be exact. Well i started the prayer and i said by the "power and authority," in the priesthood hand book it says it only needs to be the "authority" So the bishop made me start over like 3 times, but the fourth time i got everything right. After that i studied all the prayers so much that i do not think i will ever forget them.

Mom as for my sickness last week it really was not that bad. It started with all my sinus blowing up like crazy. i thought it was allergies, but i got really bad body aches and a fever. I had to go back to the apartment and rest i slept for like 5 hours and that helped a lot. I did not push my self very hard at all the next few days after that. All this week my sinuses have been going back to normal. I think i am completely healed and i am trying to eat a lot of oranges. i think the vitamin C will help keep me healthy.

I am sorry if this Email is not as long as normal, i really want to keep writing, but the computers are pieces of junk today. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do form me.I am really happy that both you Mom and Dad are felling a lot better. I always pray for you and the rest of the family. I love you.
Love Elder Beck"

Raining

Sam's email this week:

"Dear Family

Well about my week. I kind of got a little sick this week, but i got through it and i feel a lot better today. We had a baptism on Saturday. We Baptized a 4 people. There names are R, T, L, and of course W. I want to tell you a little bit about all of them.

I will start off with R. R is a Liberian and that i found a long time ago with my first companion. We have been teaching him small small for a long time. It was very hard to get him to believe that the Book of Mormon was true, but we never gave up on him and now he knows its true. I know that R will stay a strong member.

The next person is a young boy named T. He is a 12 year old Liberian, his parents have been members for about one year now. I like T very much, at first he was very shy to Elder Farnbach and I, but as we worked with him he became my very good friend. His father got up and bore his Testimony about him last week. He talked about how he had asked T earlier if he thought the church was true, T told him he knew if was true, his father asked "how do you know?" Titus told him that he could feel it, is father asked "how can you feel it?" T told him he could feel it down deep in his bones. It made me so happy to know that i was a part of helping this wonderful joy come into this family, but there again the spirit did most of the work. T is a great kid and plus his middle name is Eazy, how cool is that?

Well on to L. L is a Liberian that the missionaries have been teaching for a long time now, even before i came. She has almost been Baptized many times, but always decided she was not ready at the end because of her confidence to keep the Law of Chasity. I remember a couple of weeks ago we were teaching her and i asked her if she believed that the church was true. She said "Yes." I told her that i didn't believe her. This made her kind of mad and she asked "Why!" I told her that if she really believed she would be Baptized and she would be strong in keeping the commandments. When we left her house i really thought that she would never be baptized, but the next thing i know she is asking when is the soonest time she can be Baptized. L was very excited to be baptized and she wants to go to the Temple as soon as possible to be Baptized for her Father.

Last but not Least is Brother W. Oh brother W, i don't even know where to start. I have all ready told you a little bit about Brother W. He is a great man, i have been very stressed about getting him ready for Baptism. He is one of the smartest Liberians but has had challenges from war to marriage. With a lot of help form Heavenly father we were able to get him ready for Baptism. He was very very excited on Saturday.(the day of the Baptism) When he got to the church we had all the baptismal candidates up sitting in the front. Brother W was sitting next to R. I was watching him for a second he was looking around very excited and he leaned over to R and said " So um you've come in contact with the Restored truth too?" R looked a little confused and leaned back and said "Yea" and the friendship was born. When i saw that it made me laugh with so much joy. It made me really feel like i taught Brother W well.I had the opportunity to be a witness during his Baptism. After he came up from the water he looked at me and game me the Fist pump, i quickly gave it back. That also made me laugh. I know W will be an awesome member of the church.

The baptism went great. The roof broke open again, but we got it all fixed up before the baptism started. That night though there was a really bad storm, it rained all night super hard. When we left for church we had to walk in water because everywhere got flooded. Because of the storm only R and T made it on time to be confirmed and church. W and L showed up after sacrament meeting. Its crazy how a storm like that can slow down Ghana so much.

Thank you so much for all that you do. I want you all to know that i always remember you in my prayers. I love you so much and i hope you have an amazing week.
Love Elder Sam Beck"

Soccer Sam

Click HERE for a video of Sam playing soccer back at the MTC at the beginning of his mission. He is the one in the front wearing a white shirt, blue shorts, and no shoes. You only see the back of his head and occasionally the side- but it's Sam! I'll take whatever I can get. :)

Marriage Counseling

Sam's email this week:

"Dear Family,

Thank you again for your Emails. What is new at home?

I am loving my mission. I really am, the other day we got a brand new missionary from America. He was walking around the apartment all wide eyed, stunned at this is where he would be living for the next 2 years. He asked what i thought of my mission so far? I told him i was loving it. After i said it i paused for a second and thought about what i had just said. It was the first time in my whole mission that i said that and really meant it, and you know what, its true. I love coming home at night tired knowing i worked as hard as i could that day. It really is the best feeling when you come home and you know you gave that day everything you had.

This week has been a pretty good week. My companion and i worked our butts off this week and got 16 investigators to come to church. It was way crazy. Its amazing how fast the church is growing in Africa.

There is a family we are teaching. They are the W's, they are great. The father, brother W,(i told you about last week) really wants to be baptized. So we have been teaching them a lot to get them prepared, but the other day we got a call from sister W that she need us to come visit them right away. So we went as soon as we could. When we got there sister W told us that we should push her baptism back because brother W and her were fighting and planing on getting a divorce. When she said this brother W interrupted her and said in a very concerned voice "i still want mine right away!" That didn't help the fight but to say in short they wanted us to counsel them on there marriage. I tried to refer them to the bishop, but the kept insisting that we do it. So there i was counseling 2 middle aged people on there marriage. I tried my best, but there again i have not been married before, so i had very little experience. I would have never thought that I would have to do that in a million years before my mission. It is really crazy what i am learning from this mission.

We are having another baptism this Saturday. We are baptizing 4 people.I will tell you how everything turned out next week.

I am really glad that everyone is okay back home. Please keep me up dated on everyone's situations. I love you so much.
Love
Elder Beck

P.S.- I made it to shop right... it was amazing!"

Shop Right

Here is part of Sam's email this week:

"My week has been pretty good, well except i did not get to go to "Shop Right." "Shop right" is basically an American store in Ghana. They just built one not to far from Kasoa, so all week Elder Farnbach and i were planning to go there on Monday. I woke up this morning way excited to go. I have heard about "Shop Right" so much from the other missionaries. They say its a lot like a Fred Myer, but with just all off brands.They say when you walk in its like a little bit of america. So this morning we got up early to go. We went to catch a Tro Tro, but all the Kasoa tro tro drivers were refusing to drive any one. They were refusing because the goverment raised the toll both prices coming out of Kasoa. So in a way all the tro tro drivers in Kasoa are on a strike right now. The worst thing about this strike is that i cant go to "Shop Right." To Be honest though i am starting to think "shop right" is just a legend, but i do have a feeling down deep that it is somewhere out there. One day i may reach that blessed store.

I did have a really cool experience this week though. We were in the camp proslyting and we were invited to come and visit a boy named H. H is a 19 year old boy and his father has been a member for about a year now. We went into there home to teach. Which to be completley honest was a shack, the roof was falling apart, and it was very dark so we had to use a candle to light the room. I was siting there teaching and it started to rain very badly, the roof was leaking all over the place. At this point i was starting to feel sorry for myself. I was thinking " why in the world was i sent here?" Then all of the sudden i just got this amanzing feeling that this was right were i needed to be. I all the sudden was so happy. It was an awesome feeling. I dont think i have ever felt the spirit that strong. I feel very blessed to be called to serve here in ghana. I have learned so much and i know i will contine to learn even more.

I am going to find out probably tonight or tomorrow morning if im going to be transfered. President calls the day before the transfer and lets you know where your going. I wish he would tell us a little sooner, so i would know if i needed to say goodbye to my people. I am thinking and hoping i will stay, but im not sure what heavenly father has in store for me. I hope you all will have a great up and coming week. I love you all so much. Please let me know if there is anything i can do to help.

Love Elder Sam Beck

P.S. Please tell everyone thankyou for writing me letters. Its very hard to be able to write back because the computers here are very slow and i dont have alot of time on them. Thank you."

Ghana Sam

Here is another excerpt from Sam's email this week:

"I want you to know that i am doing very well. We had another Baptism this week. We Baptized a man named G and a woman named S. We most importantly completed their families. Sister S's husband was already a member and all of Brother G's family was baptized, but him. His wife H was so happy the day of his Baptism. She was hugging him and holding his hand. It was really great to see that because a lot of people in Africa do not show affection in that way.

Elder Farnbach and i were out in Owhto again this week. We some how ended up on a huge hill was up in the country where you could see the whole town and a lot of the country side below us. We were up there talking about how cool it looked and we felt that we should say a prayer. I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but we knelt down and that hill over Owhto and said a prayer to be guided to the people that need to hear our message. We got an amazing feeling and went back to work. When we were working we really forgot about that prayer we had said. We ended up having an awesomely amazing day. We were really teaching with the spirit. We ended up back in the camp and we taught a man named Brother W. When we found brother W he was very excited to see us. He told us that his friends in Accra having been telling him all about the church. He said he never wanted to investigate it because people have said some very bad things about the church to him. Brother W also told us though that he has always had a good feeling about the church despite what others have said. He brought his family to church on Sunday, and told us enough is enough, he needs to be baptized in the true church.It was an awesome experience. Well back to the day , we ended up going home that night and we were trying to figure out what was so different about this day than others. We remembered how we had said that prayer up on the hill of Owhto. We now have decided that we are going to go say a prayer up on that Hill every time were in Owhto. Now that i think about it heavenly father is giving me so many spiritual experiences. I am so glad we found brother W, i have honestly never met a man so excited about joining the church. he is an awesome man.

Also on Sunday the stake 1st counselor came out to our church. After church he took me and elder Farnbach and all the ward leaders and sat them down. He taught all the ward leaders how the ward should be running and how they can better help the Missionaries. It made me so happy, and it also made me realize that the church in Africa is in its early stages. It is in the same state here as it was in America during Josephs smiths time. I also realized that i need to be more patient with the ward. Most of the ward leader have been member for about no longer than 10 years. They are very new to the church and they having never seen it run correctly. As bad as things are in Africa things are only going to get better as long as the church continues to grow."

Pictures!!

Here are some photos that Sam sent home!!

Chasing Children

Here is an excerpt from Sam's email this week:

"Things here in Ghana have been pretty good this week. I went out to the village Ahyntia again. I had to take the district leader out there for a baptismal interview with S. When baptismal interviews are being done the district leader has to go off and be somewhat alone with the person. So the other missionary is usually left there doing nothing. So I was sitting there really bored and a couple of children from the village came up and would stand about 20 feet from me and just stare at me. Because it is a village most of the children have never seen a white man before so they won’t get too close. The interview was going on a long time. As the time went on more and more children started to gather in the group. There were about 40 kids just staring at me in fascination. I was getting pretty bored so all the sudden I decided to flinch at them. Form just my finch they all flew backwards with some of them falling on the ground. When they did this I got an idea and if you could have seen my face you probably wouldn't have thought it was a great idea. I jolted up and started sprinting after them. They all took off screaming for their lives. I felt like a lion chasing a bunch of Wilda beasts. The next thing I know I am running all around this village chasing all these little kids. All their parents were laughing their heads off. After a little while I felt bad and I made them all come up to me and be my friend. They all were very interested in my hair and kept touching it. I felt kinda of gross letting these kids touch my hair because I have no idea what they have been rolling around in, but then I thought what the heck this is Africa. It was a pretty fun experience making friends with all the kids.

Also this week we got permission to start teaching a couple of orphans because their care taker is a strong member. We have been given permission by the bishop to teach 6 of them, but he still has to get permission from the mission president. The children have been coming to church for a while now. We went and talked with them one on one on Wednesday. I was talking to one of the Boys "M" he had the worst stutter id ever heard. He knew the main message of the Gospel. You know, that god is our father and he sent Jesus to die for us. When I was teaching him I just got the feeling that I should give him my sunglasses. Right when I was done teaching him I realized that I need those sunglasses. I am starting to realize that I keep giving away things that I need. I think its okay though because everything is way cheap in Ghana. I really hope that president Smith lets us baptize the children. It would be way awesome to get to do that before I get transferred.

On Saturday we had a Baptism. I was really excited for this one because I was gonna get to finally Baptize O. The day of the Baptism O called me really early in the morning. He told me that he couldn't be baptized because his wife told him that if he was baptized, she would leave him. My heart sunk when I heard him say that. It made me way sad because I have been teaching him since the day I got to Buduburam. I was pretty depressed on Saturday, but I just got a feeling that it’s not O's time yet. I know one day he will be baptized, it might not be when I am still in Buduburam, but the important thing is that he is baptized. So the baptism went on as scheduled and S the man in Ahyntia was baptized. It was a very nice baptism and I was really happy to baptize. "

Photos!

Elder Beck got a pizza for his birthday :)

Elder Farnbach and Elder Beck wearing Christmas ties.

Elder Beck and Farnbach's Christmas Tree!

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!"