Elder Brady Todd Berry: July 25, 2011

Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-21

Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-21
18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
19 An if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 25, 2011

Hi Everyone,

Tishie is the hood! I really love this area and it has been really fun serving with the members here. A funny thing happened this past week. Last Saturday we had our baptism and when we went to fill the font the water was off so we had to call a water truck to come fill the font. In the mean time someone left the valve on to the baptismal font on so on Tuesday when we showed up for our district meeting the church was flooded. So before every one came we had to hurry and clean up the whole place. It was pretty funny but a big mess.

I know that I have a short attention span but it even got shorter this past week. We had gone down by the coast to teach an inactive family and while I was teaching the lesson I could hear the waves crashing on the BEACH. That was the most distracted I have been on my mission. The sound of the ocean made my mind go blank and all that I could think about was swimming. Oh how I miss the water. I want to go swimming so bad. Ha-ha! We spent most of the week down on the coast so by the end of the week I was doing a lot better when I heard or could see the ocean knowing for now that I can’t touch.

Other than the ocean being a distraction everything else is going so well here. We have so many people to work with that we are losing track of all of them. We had 28 people with a date and had to drop 14 of them so we could just focus on a few of them in order to help them progress to baptism. We are being so blessed right now!

Here is a good story for the week. On Monday I found out that Michael (who was just baptized on Saturday) got sacked from the house he was living in because he was baptized. So all week I have felt bad about what we did and questioned if baptizing him was the right thing to do. Michael had found a friend to live with so on Wednesday we went to see how he was doing. When we got there Michael invited us in and his friend Mathew was also there so we were like sweet, we can teach both of them. So we invited Mathew to join us in the lesson. We quickly changed the lesson from a recent convert lesson to a member present new investigator lesson. We taught them small and simple things about the church and the restoration. We extended a baptismal date to Mathew and after answering his question on whether a person could be baptized again he said “yes”. Then I began to bare my testimony of how I knew the church was true when right in the middle of my testimony Mathew looked me right in the eyes and it was like he said something to me but it was the spirit that said "Brady stop talking and listen". So I just stopped right in the middle of my testimony and my companion and Michael was just staring at me like what are you doing. Then Mathew looked at me and said "I love you guys. I really love you guys. You know I haven’t felt this happy in the longest time but when you two walked in my door you brought something here. You brought it right here (as he was pointing to his heart) that just made me feel happy for the first time in the longest time”. He said that he stopped going to church and started getting into the wrong things, but that he was now ready to stop all that and be baptized. At that point the spirit was so strong there it was painful. My throat got all dried up, my eyes itched, my nose started to run, and all this water started pouring out of my eyes. We closed our lesson with a pray and as we all knelt there in prayer we all knew that the spirit was present. It was the first lesson that I have cried in.

I love me mission, I love the people of Ghana, I love all my family and every one who reads this letter. I know the church is true there is no doubt!

Take care every one!

Love Bbear

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MAILING INFORMATION

braidbear@gmail.com

Mission Home
Elder Brady Todd Berry
Ghana Accra Mission
#6 Tenth Road
East Ridge
Accra, Ghana

Pouch
Elder Brady Berry
Ghana Accra Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City. UT 84130

dearelder.com
Sends letters to the pouch for free.

Packages
Elder Brady Todd Berry
Ghana Accra Mission
P.O. Box 2585-Main
Accra, Ghana
Phone: 233 30-265-0161

Use the flat rate priority envelope, tape the corners and sides. This way the envelope goes right to the mission and he does not have to pay anything to get it. It cost around 13 dollars to send.

Elder Berry's Current Location

Brady's Third Area - Odorkor Serving with Elder Wollenzien Second Area Brady's Second Area Served with Elder Farnes -Tema, population 209,000 (2005), is a city on the Atlantic Ocean coast, east of the capital city of Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, in Ghana, West Africa. Originally a small fishing village, it grew after the construction of a large harbour in 1961 and is now is the nation's largest sea port. It is also home to an oil refinery and is an important centre of manufacturing. It is linked to the capital by railway and a highway. Tema is one of Ghana's two deep seaports; Sekondi Takoradi is the other. Tema is also the only well planned city by Ghana's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. But in recent times, the beauty of the city is being destroyed by overpopulation stemming mainly from rural-urban migration. Tema is also called the Harbour City because of the Harbour located in Tema. Brady's First Area Served with Elder Boatneg Konongo is a city located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The city serves as the capital of the Asante Akim North District. Konogo is about 33 miles from Kumasi, the regional capital. Ghanaian international footballer Sulley Muntari was born and raised in the city, as was percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah. Konongo was a gold mining town.[1]The underground mine shafts have not been used for a long time. The population of Konongo, Ghana is 32130 according to the GeoNames geographical database. The Gold mining town of Konongo has always been a lively town. It was a very boisterous town many decades before Ghana's independence. Indeed, it was the commercial capital of the Kumasi East Council which later became the Asante-Akyem District. The Gold mines that was owned by British companies attracted many nationalities from the West African Sub-Region as well as other ethnic groups from the... KonongoGold Mine Konongo Gold Mine is a suspended open pit mine in Ghana. It mainly produced gold. In Raw Materials Data you will find production data for gold for 6 years, between 1984 and 1992. It is controlled/owned by Signature Metals Ltd Konongo Gold Mine is just one of 26 000 entities to be found in Raw Materials Data, the mining industry's most extensive database.

Temple History

The announcement of the Accra Ghana Temple by President Gordon B. Hinckley came after he had challenged members to make a special effort to fellowship new converts to the Church. "Put your arms around them, make them feel at home. Teach them the doctrines of the kingdom. Befriend them and help them in every way possible," he said. "I make you a promise that if you will do that you will be blessed with a temple in your midst."1

The day of the announcement, at an outdoor gathering of some assembled members in Accra's Independence Square, President Hinckley said, "You've gone a long time without a temple. When I was here five years ago [as a member of the First Presidency], we tried to find a place to build a temple. We didn't find anything and we didn't say anything to anybody. But efforts Monday, February 16, were more fruitful. This morning we approved the purchase of a beautiful piece of ground," President Hinckley announced.2

Ground was broken on Friday, November 16, 2001. Intended to begin at 8:00 that morning, the ceremony was delayed 45 minutes while awaiting the arrival of the Vice President who had returned earlier that morning from New York and graciously accepted an invitation to attend. The combined Christiansborg and Lartebiorkoshie stake choir thrilled the waiting crowd with inspiring music. Upon his arrival, the ceremony commenced; and Elder Nelson gave the concluding remarks. Groundbreaking followed with participation by Elder Nelson, the Vice President, stake presidents, and other dignitaries. The event was covered by a local radio station and Ghana Television.3

Fifteen months after presiding over the groundbreaking ceremony for the Accra Ghana Temple, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles returned to the construction site while on assignment to Ghana and Nigeria in February 2003. Ghanian Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who broke ground for the temple with Elder Nelson, met with the apostle in the Osu Castle. Elder Nelson says, "We have a very good relationship."4

One of the MM emailed this out and I was touched by it.

Elder Bednar learns about fasting in Africa

"A sister in Africa was teaching a class about fasting. Now, this was in a place in Africa where they're not starving but they're hungry most of the time. They would probably have about one meal a day as we understand it. This woman was teaching the sisters in Relief Society and she said, "Sisters, there are many days when we do not have food and we do not eat. That is not fasting. It's only fasting on a day when we have food and we can choose not to eat it."

At the time I was fifty-four years old, a member of the church since I was eight, and an apostle for two years. I had to go to Africa to learn from a woman who had joined the church just eight months earlier what it really meant to fast."

What a blessing it is for our sons to serve among these humble, faithful people!