Elder Hales and I have discovered a hidden part of our area you cannot see on the map. This place is called Brima Town and it has big rolling hill and is very similar to what the villages look like here. It is so quiet and peaceful in Brima Town...I can't wait to send pictures of this place. We decided to spend one day just exploring and contacting people. We were just going where the spirit guided us. We had climbed to the top of one hill and found a lady selling some miscellaneous things with her children at her side. I got some chocolate and we asked her if her husband was home. She said he was home and that he had a broken ankle. She directed us to a small collection of homes behind her. We really did not know where we were going, but we ended up at this mans house. His name is Abdul Conte, he is a Muslim and has 4 children. We found that Abdul has had a broken ankle for one year now. His ankle looks like that basketball player (Kevin Ware) who snapped his shin and it was sticking out of his leg . Abdul could walk on this ankle with a limp. He showed us the x-rays and it looks like the bones would be mended together now. Anyways this man has been trying to save up money so he can go to a bone specialist and get it fixed. We have been teaching him and we invited him to church multiple times. He seemed to be hesitant to the idea because he would have to take a motorcycle to get to church, and he has very little money. One ride on a motorcycle costs about 25 cents, and he was saying how he would come if he got the money by then. I felt so bad for this man, he didn't have any money, his wife is on the side of the road trying to make some money and he has a broken ankle. His wife used to attend our church, but when she was married she had to become Muslim, as the culture requires the wife to take the religion of the husband. We taught the wife separately because she had to stay by the road and sell stuff. She wanted badly to go back to church, but didn't want to say anything to Abdul. So we prayed that they would come to church.
The last Sunday we only had one investigator come to church, and all the people we taught seemed to not really grab what we were teaching. So for this week Elder Hales and I have been working extra hard and have really been following the spirit. We have been praying a lot and really have been making progress with some families. With some hard work and prayer we were able to see 14 investigators come to church. Could you imagine having 14 investigators in our ward back home? With all of the members in my district working hard we were able to see the attendance of our branch here in Bo jump from 100 to 145 in one week. Of those 14 investigators Abdul and his family came to church! Sister Conte had so much fun seeing people that she knew and was so happy to just be at church... she was smiling the whole time.
The last Sunday we only had one investigator come to church, and all the people we taught seemed to not really grab what we were teaching. So for this week Elder Hales and I have been working extra hard and have really been following the spirit. We have been praying a lot and really have been making progress with some families. With some hard work and prayer we were able to see 14 investigators come to church. Could you imagine having 14 investigators in our ward back home? With all of the members in my district working hard we were able to see the attendance of our branch here in Bo jump from 100 to 145 in one week. Of those 14 investigators Abdul and his family came to church! Sister Conte had so much fun seeing people that she knew and was so happy to just be at church... she was smiling the whole time.
After church Elder Hales had to do some baptismal interviews so we missed some of our appointments. So we went to a members house and taught a lesson on enduring to the end. After we
were walking away we ran into two ladies who stopped to talk to us. I thought is was going to be a pretty standard small discussion about the church and an invitation to come, but one of the ladies wanted us to bless her baby. This baby was paralyzed, it had no control of its body and if you were to not hold its head up it would just flop back like a noodle. We explained about the priesthood power and faith and I anointed the child and Elder Hales blessed the child. Afterwards it turned into a 30 minute lesson where we taught about the Plan of Salvation. It made me so happy that it made me cry to know that this child was loved by God and was able to receive a body and come to this earth so he could live with our Heavenly Father again one day. This child's dad had abandoned the family when the child was born and the grandmother had brought the family to Bo from the village so they could care for this child. They don't have money to see a doctor but they have faith in God. Right after that a blind man and his child came up to us and said they here hungry. I looked to Elder Hales to tell them that he had nothing to give them and I shook my head, I didn't want to tell these starving people that we had nothing but the word of God to share but Elder Hales wanted me to tell them. So I told them that we had the word of God to share and with faith in him all things are possible. The old man muttered the words "the word of God" and walked away with his child. I looked to Elder Hales then back at the man and his child and they had disappeared... it made me so set back to see these people living day to day and suffering but these people have so much faith in God they know that they are watched over. We are so blessed in our lives back home, dont forget to thank God for your life and for the simple piece of bread that you have.
Love from,
Elder Cody Beckett
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