Yeah its pretty unusual here in Ghana to see a muslim convert!

My week was pretty cool, it went by really fast, and that is how my mission is going now, really fast. Yeah its pretty unusual here in Ghana to see a muslim convert, but not in Sierra Leone. Muslims convert there pretty frequent. Even Sister S and Elder N that you sent gifts to were both muslims before joining our church. A lot of muslims don't like Christianity because they feel that we are all divided and there is no unity. Which is very true, we all have different beliefs and practices, hence the need for restoration. So I have seen plenty of muslims join our church because of the way we worship and the great message of the restoration. In Ghana its pretty serious to teach a muslim, we have to get permission before teaching more than two lessons because of what their family may do to them, but those who live on their own and away from home, it usually is no problem.

My birthday was a pretty regular day, I haven't made the cake, we don't have an oven in our house so I need to go the the church before I can make it. Its weird to tell people that I am twenty now, but thats pretty normal for just having a birthday.  

Wow lots of exciting things happening in the world, good to hear all the news from home. Have you heard anything about ebola lately?

elder beckett

                                Left to Right Elder Vosa, Henrie and me. We were all in Salone.

Rinse cycle ....this is what the water looks like after I have finished brooking

Washing my mosquito net

Elder Van Wagoner my faithful first companion in Ghana.

The miracle is in her husband!

           Thank you dad I will use my time wisely. Dont surf too much with out me!

Yes I got the birthday package you sent.Thank you so much for everything. I really enjoy all the notes from you guys... thats the best part. Thank you Zac for the socks and the pics! Chai!... the wedge was massive! Jeff thanks for the rubberband guns, me and my companion enjoy them. Jana thanks for the shampoo and the gel. It was well needed, I don't remember the time I used real shampoo to wash my hair! 20 came quick, I remember my last birthday in Wellington. Time goes quick and I wish it would slow down small. 

 Yes, Elder Curtis is the area president and Elder Dube is his councilor. I have met both.

This week we saw some sweet stuff. This week an investigator was baptized. The first since we white washed (both companions new to the area). She is super sweet and super converted. The miracle is in her husband. Her husband is Muslim. When we first started teaching her, he did not want to talk to us at all. He came and witnessed his wives baptism and confirmation. With this and him seeing his wife make changes in her life, he has become interested and said he wants to join. You should have seen how happy they were at church together and the ward members did wonderful of fellowshipping them, they looked like celebrities at church. Everyone wanted to talk to them.

I cant believe the time is going so fast. It seems like yesterday I was emailing you.

Well Elder Sibeko and I are doing good. I feel like I will be transfered soon because we are losing missionaries in Teshie and I think I will be one leaving.

All is okay.

I missed out on that one!

Wow look at the snow! It really looks like you could go sledding. I missed out on that one! Did Zac go sledding? Is it really cold there? Dad says there is lots of rain.

Cody commenting about the snow on Saddleback Mountain near our home which only comes every few years!

 We are in a season here called hamatan, it gets really dry and windy and cold at night. So I guess thats my winter here.  Super-cross should be starting soon right? I got the package from the Richins and Christmas cards from the Nielsons, Robertsons and Andersons... lots of sons!


I also got an email from Sister Ostler about their mission call to the Hill Cumorah visitors center (Ostler's were Cody's mission president and wife in Sierra Leone).

I am in the Christiansborg zone, so that is the zone right around the temple, so I often get to come to the area office/temple/ stake center. All three of these big buildings are in one compound, and they are adding a new MTC which will make it even bigger. Every Monday we come there and play sports, usually football in the gym. Its really fun even though I dont know how to play football very well. The cool part is that the stake center's gym is upstairs so you can see the temple from there and its really sweet. You would enjoy to see it.

Well the week went so fast! We got work done this week too. On Monday we didnt get to work because Elder Sibeko hurt his leg playing football, Thursday we only worked for a few hours because we had a conference with Elder Curtis and Saturday we had a wedding to go to for one of the members in the ward that lasted till 4 ish but we were still able to teach 26 people. We really used our time wisely.

I had a white shirt made for myself. It fits very nice and its tailored to fit me.

Anyways

elder beckett

Its the coolest thing to see people living the gospel and starting to make changes in their lives that bring true happiness!

Hey Mom,

Yeah the weeks are going fast huh. Well being in a tri-panionship has been okay. Its not the first timeI have been in a threesome so I am used to it. We went on splits three times this week and it allowed us to work pretty normal for most of the week. We had some interesting times trying to reunite from our splits, because one of our phones was broken, but all worked out. Elder Krofuah has received a new companion, so we are all evened out in Teshie. Hopefully this will be the first time things are pretty normal for me in Ghana. I am super excited to work this week, because we wont have any distractions, and we can really focus on helping people.

New Years was fun I guess... everyone loves to light off big big fireworks all night and go to church  and play very loud music. So that night I woke up about every hour from the noise. During Christmas and New Years we have seen some favor from the members feeding us, hopefully that will continue!

We are having a baptism on the 17th of January. Its the coolest thing to see people living the gospel and starting to make changes in their lives that bring true happiness. I really rejoice with those people. When we step out of ourselves and take steps to righteousness, even if they are stumbling steps like a baby learning to walk, we eventually find balance in our lives and a love for God that did not exist before and the blessings of righteousness and repentance are huge. A new direction comes into their live, new hope, new hppiness and stability, and we can have that each week if we prepare ourselves to take the sacrament.

I am reading in the end of Helaman right now, but I have taken a small break to prepare for a mission tour with Elder Curtis. He asked us to read in Mosiah and 3 Nephi.

Elder Beckett

It's always sweet calling home!

Its always sweet calling home. After the time is up I always want to call back. Christmas sounds sweet at home. Yeah when I say I am good, it means every things going well. YeahI am only thinking of extending if I can go back to Sierra Leone. I will talk to my mission president about it. The pics look pretty fun. I miss that ocean. And seeing Catalina in the horizon.  I have a few pics I will send to you today. 

We went to the MTC for a Christmas Party this last week. I thought that we would never go back to see that place. We got to go inside and watch "Meet the Mormons". It was fun seeing the US in the movie, and some things looked strange about home.

It seems like we keep running into problems here in Teshie. Elder Garcia went home this week, and it left an uneven number of elders in the mission. So now we are having 3 in our district. Which would not be so bad if we were attending the same ward, but the ward was just split, so we are three elders trying to do missionary work for two wards. We are trying to go on some splits so that we can keep up with the work. Sunday we attended two wards (5 hours of church).

I dont have much to say, I just talked to you so my mind is blank.

elder beckett

"Let us make Christmas a time of rejoicing and celebration"!

Hitchin' a ride from Elder Garcia

This was the Thanksgving dinner that we made ...Fried Chicken and even a little bubbly!

Bed and bikes - Elder Garcia

My shoes that Sister Farrell gave me before I left

The week was full of exciting things.

First thing is that our area has doubled its size which is not all that big, but will be bigger than we are used too.Tthe stake is trying to split, so they put 2 new units in the Teshie area making 3 units into 5 and by thend of next year they want to make a stake.. so I took over half of one of the areas right next to ours and it has doubled our teaching pool. So big things are happening.

Also, we did some service this week. We were able to join in with an organization to help some kids have an enjoyable Christmas. There was about 90 missionaries or so and 1500 kids. The kids were just off the street, the first 1500 into the program would be the ones to enjoy. So we had games and shows and bounce houses and food. It was really good for the kids. They had one of the most exciting days of the year Its pretty weird to think though, most of those kids just live on the street, and the fun they had will end but at least we were able to have fun with them. Another cool thing was that at the service project was all of the Salone missionaries that you sent Christmas gifts for. I love talking to them and Sister Kailie made me my favorite dish, Kasava leaf! So I have been enjoying that for  the past few days. It made me feel like I was back in Salone, people love to feed us there!

The packages that you sent have arrived. Elder Nyelenke, Elder Charles and sister Kailie have seen theirs and Sister Stevens should get hers tomorrow. Wow you should have heard these three missionaries call me the day they got them!  They feel so loved and happy. Elder Nyelenke said he wanted to email Jana to thank her for the gifts (he did and its posted below), and said that our family will always be close in his heart. Elder Nyelenke is a really cool guy, always happy and greatful for everything. Sister Kailie was so thankful. She had been praying for a way to get a camera, she wanted to get one but couldnt, so she was so happy! She loves everything that Grandma and Aunt Pam sent for her. She said she wants to call on Christmas to thank the Anderson family. Elder Charles was also very appreciative. He is a very quiet guy, but very grateful. It was so cool to see them light up like that, Thank you! You really made them feel very loved.

Well I call you on Christmas with more!

love elder beckett

Sister Kailie on the left and Sister Stevens on the right

Thank you email from Elder Nyelenke to Jana:

Dear Sister Beckett,

    I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ for the privileged I have to write you this mail. How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and fine with all ur day to day affairs in the U.S.A I know that you will be so surprised to received an email from someone that you never knows well my name is elder Gassimu Nyelenke I am a Sierra Leonean by nationality serving mission in Ghana your brother met me in Ghana whiles they were evacuated from my country because of Ebola he is a great missionary he loves people so much he never knew me but the day I met him for the very first time it was fun he can even speak our country language very well I was so surprised at him like said within myself what a white man speaking my country language. 

Compliment of the season in advanced I  just wanted to share this small thought with you. "And the angels said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people". "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, which is Christ the lord" Luke2:10-11.

Lets us make Christmas a time of rejoicing and celebration, a time to share the marvelous truth that Almighty God sent His be gotten son, Jesus Christ to redeem the world! May the joy of that knowledge be with you this Christmas season  and throughout the coming year. 

Thanks for the wonderful Christmas gift that you sent for me may the good Lord continues to open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessings for you and your family where there shall not be enough room to receive it. You will always be in my heart I hope we shall continue to get in touch with each other. Thanks for reading and accepting my mail. 

Yours Elder Nyelenkeh.  

Elder Nyelenkeh

Modern day prophets can do more than tell us bible stories!

Before Leaving Sierra Leone

Well my week went quickly. I didnt get to work to much in the field this week. I have been needing to stay home with an elder who is sick and has needed my help. As I am looking back on the week now I am struggling to remember what has happened. I feel like I need to stop and look around more on my mission. I get caught to much in working that I dont take time to notice all of the wonderful things happening around me. 

So, a few blessings this week:

1) Talks by modern day prophets. A lot of the personal struggels I have and things that I need to work on to be more like Christ can bother me, but when I read the Liahona or any of the talks you send me it seems as if they were directed, directly to me.  Modern day prophets can do more than tell us bible stories, they can receive revelation about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so we can receive all the blessings of the atonement into our lives. 

2) One Salone woman I met here made me ginger beer this week. Ginger beer is a drink that they make in Salone, its pounded ginger mixed with water, sugar and lime. Its way good. Also the two sister missionaries from Salone are making me Kasava Leaf and Kren Kren, two sweet dishes from Salone!

Christmas is coming soon, I cant wait to talk to you all. Will Jeff be there? 

Welp talk to you soon!