Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

Dear family,

I think the hardest part of my week is trying to think of a way to start these letters and than what to write.

This week on Tuesday I got to go on splits with Elder Wollenzien again! I really love that kid he is so funny. Funny thing is we were both together for both of his birthdays in the mission field. Last year we were companions in Ordorkor and we both were suffering with pink eye, now this year we were in Osu having a good time teaching together on splits. While we were on our slits in his area we saw a lot of people and started teaching a lot of new people for him and his companion Elder Nielson. Ha-ha! Yes, Elder Nielson was my companion too; they both can’t get rid of me.

On Saturday night we had 4 failed appointments in a row, kind of a frustrating thing. Then we got this call from this member around 7 pm and he was like “I got this friend that I want you to teach” we ask if we could come right then and he said that would be  fine; so we went on this wild hunt to try to find this place that we had never been before. We finally found the place around 8 and the member was there with his friend. We started doing a little teaching and the member was right there just a testifying to everything we had to say, it was a picture perfect lesson. After we got done introducing what we do we ask him if he had any questions. He said yes. What is this Book of Mormon? My companion and I looked at each other with a little smile on our face. We have been really focusing on using the Book of Mormon and it’s just that much better when the person that we are teaching wants to know more about it. We explained what the book is and how it can help him answer questions about life. Our member friends bore a solid testimony and pretty much wrapped it up for us. We invited him to church and he said that he would be traveling to Kasoa. We told him that we had a branch there. Yesterday we found out that he went to church. MONEY! Ha-ha

We had another interesting experience this week. We got this other referral from these members that work at the area office here. They told us that they wanted us to teach this man and baptize him as soon as possible. We were thinking great we teach him give him a Book of Mormon, give him a date to baptize, and then commit him to church. It will be as simple as a 1 2 3 baptism.  Well when we got to meet with him it was everything but that. This man is a doctor and he lived in England for 15 years. He is very smart and knows way too much about the bible. He has read the bible so many times that he pretty much in his mind has proven it to be false. We tried to introduce him to the Book of Mormon, and he just shut us down. Then he started telling us that he doesn't believe that Jesus is the Christ. I have only met maybe 5 Ghanaian that don’t believe in Christ and the sad thing is they have all had influences out side of Ghana mainly they have lived in Europe somewhere. Ghana is a blessed land and the church is exploding here. At stake conference we will come together as 4 stakes and leave as 6.  It will be exciting to be a part of that in a couple of here in Accra.

As I was studying in the Book of Mormon this week, I was reading through first chapters of Nephi again. The first few chapters are the most read chapters in the book of Mormon, probably because I get to second Nephi and forget to read and then I would start over again. Any way I was reading and I was just so impressed with Nephi as always. Nephi was a stud, I want to be just like Nephi. Every time a challenge came up in front of him he did "not forget"

When I was taking history classes in school I would always wonder why we had to learn this stuff. The teacher would always say something like “so that we don’t make the same mistakes as these people did”. I have been reading through first Nephi studying Laman and Lemuel and the things that they did wrong so I won’t make the same mistakes as they made. There are a lot of things that we can learn that they did or didn’t do. They were slow to listen to the words of God, quick to do inequality, slow to repent. They harden their hearts, and they complained. One thing that has really stood out to me this time around is that they did "forget." in chapter 7 verse 10 Nephi says "How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord? 11) Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record? 12) Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

Each time that Laman and Lemuel rebelled they demonstrated that they were more concerned about there own well being and had totally forgot about the eternal purpose of life, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father. Sometimes in life or even on mission we can forget what’s really up and we tend to get causal about things. In Helaman 5:12 he said   And now, my sons, remember, remember. I know that as we follow Nephi's example and never forget but to always remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation. Let us not forget but to always remember.

Love you guys,
Bbear

I know that the Book of Mormon has a power of its own to bring others unto Christ

What’s up my best family?

How has everyone been this week?  I got the stuff from that guy that came so thanks so much for that mom.

I don't have much time and the lights have been giving us problems but I know I need to send a quick note to my family.  We have this investigator named Ruth. I think that I mentioned her before. She is 24 and has a little girl. We have been teaching Ruth for some time now but she hasn’t really been progressing much. She wasn’t coming to church and she wasn’t reading the Book of Mormon so my companion and I talked a lot about what we could do to help her. We decided that if she wasn’t going to read the Book of Mormon then we would just read it to her. So every time we went to see her we read one or two scriptures that went along with what we were teaching her or we would just read a whole chapter to her and then talk about it. This seemed to be working quite well because she never told us to stop coming and she liked having us round. It was about two weeks into reading the Book of Mormon to her, her whole attitude about the church and about the gospel change. She started coming to church and starting reading on her own. Well she pre-pared herself for baptism and everything went well all the way up to the day of her baptism. Then her mother heard something about the church and wouldn't let her be baptized. It kind of through me and my companion off but we believe that she has a testimony and will be able to get through this and work things out with her mother. I know that the Book of Mormon has a power of its own to bring others unto Christ and help them see the truth in all things.

This week we had our interviews with President Judd. It was really sweet! I love that man. I wish that I had more time to talk to him, but we only got to spend a short time together. We mostly talked about what we can do to work this skin problem out. We are trying a few different things right now and we are seeing improvement. I think it has more to do with all the prayers in my behalf than anything! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I can feel the power of pray in my life right now. Everything is looking better so I’m happy about that! My companion and I are working hard, and we are working on changing the boys into men. We are doing all that we can to be the best that we can be!

Sorry for the short one but I just wanted you to know that I am alright and I love you guys and miss you so much!

Love Bbear

Everything in the Book of Mormon is there to help us live our lives so that we can return to live with God.

Greetings from Ghana,

Well it has been another crazy week and it has gone by fast along with the last transfer. Congrats to Lone Peak in the dominating win at STATE! That is legit! Too bad it wasn’t a game though, it would have been tight to beat AF in the championship, but we will take the win anyway. Nice work Brod!

We had a meeting with President Judd this week. We talked about a lot of great things, but we mostly talk about the step that Elder Holland wants our mission to take. That is to become a Book of Mormon mission. So forgive me if you hear me talk a lot about the Book of Mormon in my letters in the weeks to come. I have had a lot of fun already trying to make my self a Book of Mormon missionary with my companion and it seems to be doing wonderful things for us.

The prophet Joseph Smith said that if we "take away the Book of Mormon where is our religion, we have none".  Our religion is based on the Book of Mormon and if we take a look at the definition of religion we see that “re” in Latin means “to do again” and “lig” means “to bring together”. Kind of like the function of ligaments in our body. From the meaning we see that “religion” means “to bring man and God back together again”. So if our "religion" is based on the gospel principles found in the Book of Mormon then the soul purpose of the book is to bring man back to live in the presence of God.  We should be thankful everyday that we have such a book.  The Nephit’s never had the book; neither did the Laminites of ancient times. That is because it was written for us. Under inspiration from God, Mormon chose specific stories and events from centuries of writings that would benefit us today. Everything in the Book of Mormon is there to help us live our lives so that we can return to live with God.  Why would not everyone want to read this book?

The golden question of the Book of Mormon is: Do you want to learn more about Christ, His teachings, and the atonement? The Book of Mormon does not contain the things which are pleasing unto the world and so the worldly are not interested in it. But it is meant for everyone, we invite all men to read it. (Introduction to Book of Mormon) It has something for every one no matter what they are facing in there lives. It is a different book for me now than it was two years ago. Yes the words are still the same but the things that I learn from it today are for what I need at this time.

Well things have been crazy for us. We have been running all over the place with meetings and transfers, but we still managed to have a great week out teaching. We got three families to come to church this Sunday. I think that is the most whole families that I have gotten to church on my mission. Things are looking good with them but we are praying that it will all work out. They are sweet people and they loved church on Sunday. Me and my companion baptized a lady named Rose Marry this week. She was a referral from her member father. She is way sweet, and was so excited to join the church. She is married and is 28 years old. We are now working with her husband. The baptism was sweet even though it almost didn’t happen. Her father is really old and she is kind of on the heavy side so he almost drowned her. He had to do it a few times but in the end it was all good. Everyone was happy and they were very happy to be together in the church. That’s what this is all about! Bring families together, not any better joy than doing that!

I got to split. I didn’t get transferred. I’m still with Elder Mudenga. He got a letter from mom and he it made him very happy, and he even shared the story today in our district meeting so thanks for doing that mom! He loved it and with that I love you all. Keep doing what’s good!

love Bbear

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment.

Hi Everyone,

I can’t believe that it has been six weeks now since I left Elder Wing and McCarthy Hills. My first six weeks in Laterbiokorshie has been a ride that is for sure. I know it’s been a while since you have heard from me, but I haven’t been myself for a couple of weeks and it hasn’t been easy for me to sit down and write.

For the past year or so I have had problems with my skin in one-way or another. It has been annoying but I tried not to worry too much about it and I just tried to stay focused on missionary work. That right there might have been my first mistake not taking care of the problem that would have been easier to solve when it first started. Some months went by and things weren’t getting better, so I thought that I better do something about it. By that time it had left me with permanent scars. I tried not letting it get to me but it was always right there in the back of my mind. I came to this new area and things just seemed to get worse, escalating to something I felt like I couldn't handle. I developed a new rash that burned and itched more than anything I have ever experienced. I spent several nights the past few weeks only sleeping one maybe two hours a night. Then the next morning I would be getting ready and look at myself in the mirror and I would just want to put my fist through the mirror in frustration. I have been so depressed.  I just can’t seem to get out this slump that I’m in. 

I knew that I had to start doing something different to get out of this slump that I was in.  I have taken my bruises, taken my lumps, and have fallen now I need to find a way to get back up again. I knew I needed a spark to get me psyched back up again to get my mind back in the game. I don't know how or why or when I ended up in this position that I'm in but there was one day in particular when I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it another day.  I was probably a hair away from getting carried away in a straight jacket when this quote came to my mind (I think it came from President Hinckley) "when life gets to hard to stand, just kneel”.  I found myself on my knees face down in my scriptures for many hours. There was one night in particular where I felt like I didn't have any more in me to go on when I pick my face up off my scriptures and looked at the clock and it was 2:40 am. As I lifted my head the fan blew my scriptures and the pages went turning every which way and when I finally got everything under control, my scriptures were opened to the 121 section of the Doctrine and Covenants. At first I didn’t think much of it and just put my face back down on my scriptures and spaced out for a while. Then when I finally opened my eyes again, it was starting to get light outside so I could see small. I looked down at my scriptures and began reading:

D&C 121:1 O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?  2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? 3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?


As I began to read this, it did humble me as I thought about the conditions that the prophet Joseph Smith was in and how much more he suffered than what I was suffering.  I thought to myself at least I’m not in prison and it’s not cold and I can still feel my toes and I have food to eat so I continued to read.

 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment.

It scripture continues on to talk about how he (Joseph) was not yet as Job, so I started to think about more stories in the scriptures were the righteous did suffer afflictions and hard times, but as they were faithful to the lord their afflictions were but a small moment. I am not sure how long this small moment is going to be but I know that the Lord knows what he is doing. I read through the next chapter.

D&C 122:7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

This verse kind of just topped it all off, with all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. I currently still can’t see the good of this but I am praying that one day I will understand why we have to go through these hard things. All I do know is that it is for my good, what ever that may be.

Again I am sorry for the past couple of weeks; I am going to do better. I really don't want you to worry about me, because I am fine and all will be well. We are doing everything that we can here to fix what we can. Sounds like state starts today! Go get’em Lone Peak! Let’s bring home the gold! I love you guys!


So transfers are tomorrow. My companion and I are staying here; Elder Wing is being transferred up to Kofriduia just north of Accra and he will probably be there for the rest of my mission. It kind of blows to know that after tomorrow I might not see him again before I leave, but I guess that’s the way it goes. We sent off Elder Quinn in our apartment today, he will be heading home later today. Ha-ha! He was extremely ready to go but we are going to miss him.

Love you all,

Bbear

 The TreeO

KFC In Ghana!

Elder Holland made a tour of West Africa last week

Received this email from Elder Wing's Dad.  Brady loved serving with Elder Wing, he was his last companion in the McCarthy Hills District.

I think that Kimball is standing next to Brady on the left side of the large mission photo, tall kid with the green tie and backpack.....Phil
Subject: Kimball makes the LDS Church News!

http://www.lds.org/church/news/elder-holland-tells-ghanaian-saints-to-be-their-best/photo-gallery?lang=eng#8

Elder Holland made a tour of West Africa last week.  During the trip, he spent some time in Ghana and spoke with the missionaries on a couple of occasions.  Kimball, shy kid that he is, was front and center in one of the thirteen photos in the Church News that accompanied the article, he is also in the full mission photo on the far left side.  Enjoy.  Now, if we can just keep him from getting too close to moving vehicles......Phil

Elder Holland Tells Ghanaian Saints to Be Their Best

While completing an area review in Accra, Ghana, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with area office employees, missionaries, and members, and encouraged them to reach their potential in their different capacities.
Shortly after traveling from nearby Liberia, Elder Holland met with missionaries in the Accra Ghana MTC on Monday, February 13, 2012.
Following messages from Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife, Phyllis, as well as Patricia Holland, Elder Holland spoke to both young and senior missionaries.
He thanked them for their faith, sacrifice, and service, and expressed that his main mission was to “tell you that I love you, and that God loves you, and that the President of the Church loves you, and people the length and breadth of this planet love you.”
“If we had a universal symbol of the Church, I daresay it would be two missionaries,” he said. However, he continued, that compliment is also their burden.
“My challenge to you and my very direct language to you is, you are not free to compromise that tradition. … So, be your best,” he said.
He emphasized that missionary work is not a temporary calling. “I want you to work to the 11th hour, but when you go home, you go home and represent the greatness of this gospel [forever],” he said.
Elder Holland expressed his love for Africa, remembering when President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) announced the building of the Accra Ghana Temple.
“Little by little, we’re going to see this continent covered by temples,” he predicted.
He impressed upon the missionaries the privilege it is to be missionaries. “Know that the work of salvation has never been easy. It’s hard because salvation is hard,” he said.
“You’re not going to do what [Christ] did … but you’re going to do a little. You have to take a few steps that He took. You have to shed a couple of the tears that He shed. You’ve got to feel a little of the pain He felt or else what is a disciple of Christ?“
The following day, February 14, Elder Holland held a devotional with area office employees. He stressed that “all things unto [the Lord] are spiritual” (D&C 29:34; see also verse 35).
“Wherever you work in this great, grand organization, I want you to believe in our spiritual significance, your spiritual service,” he said.
This year Church leaders will create the 3,000th stake in the Church and Africa will see seven or eight new missions, Elder Holland said. But there will still be only 3 members of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles.
The Brethren, Elder Holland said, are concerned with individual members of the Church: “How do we make sure that the Church never gets so big that you don’t know us and we don’t know you?” he asked. “How do we continue to make sure that there is face-to-face contact and a chance to shake hands and … make sure that we know the issues in Africa and that you know something of the issues at Church headquarters?”
He explained that area reviews allow Church leaders to communicate with local leaders and stay informed of members throughout the world.
Elder Holland reported on the prophets and apostles and on Sister Frances Monson. “She’s given her whole life to this Church,” he said, reviewing President Thomas S. Monson’s 49 years as a General Authority. “I suppose that if there is a modern contemporary heroine in the Church, it’s Frances Monson.”
Elder Holland thanked and praised the leaders of the Africa West Area and encouraged them to lead by example.
On Wednesday, February 15, members packed a local stake center to hear Elder Holland speak during a fireside, prior to his departing for Sierra Leone.
Elder Holland based his remarks on Acts 3, wherein Peter and John heal a man lame since birth on the steps of the temple.
He testified of the miracle of God’s love and the power of the priesthood.
“In this Church, you get a lot more than you bargain for,” he said. “That man on the steps of the temple that day had no higher hope than that he would get a [coin]. … What he got were straightened legs and the chance to walk and leap and sing and praise God and go into the temple.”
He concluded, “I testify that I count myself one among you, like the lame man on the steps of the temple, who never dreamed what lay in store.”
Elder Holland emphasized that nothing will stop the spread of the gospel throughout the world.
He left members with an apostolic blessing, and he encouraged the men of the Church to be better at home.
“Talk the way [Christ] talked, walk the way He walked, be gentle the way He was gentle, be patient the way He was patient,” he said.

I am a huge believer in examples.

Good morning everyone (or what ever time it is when you are reading this)

I finally got my other shoe, so I have been walking in style this weekend. They are really comfortably and very breezy.  I like them a lot so thank you very much. Oh and I emailed Elder Orchard about my other shoes and he said that something happened because he never got home with them.  He was really sorry but I am sure they are still around some where; I just got to find them. I think the pair I have now will last me until I get home.  If not then I will make them last. I don’t think that I will need another pair unless I want to wear a new pair home to make sure I am looking fresh! Ha-ha!

This week wasn’t too much out of the regular. Some guy showed up to our place to try and solve the rat problem. His idea was to cover the holes with some nails and wood. That might have worked in any other situation but not with these massive rats. They just chewed threw the wood over night. Ha-ha! They are huge but they really haven’t been bothering me too bad, it’s the other elders that are in our apartment.

I was walking around our place this week and I found this old baptismal font which was kind of strange but then I found out that this place used to be the old meeting house a long time ago. After it was a meeting house it was the MTC for a few years before they built the big one. Now it is just home to missionaries and of course our friendly RATS!  This building has been around for a while and has seen a lot of missionaries in its day. 

On Thursday we had a mission tour with Elder Sitati.  It was really good and really boring. That guy can talk in a monotone voice for hours. Somehow we got lucky and only got it for two solid hours. At the beginning of his speech he talked about the how significant putting on our name tags and going out amongst the people and setting an example for everyone to see. He started off with this scripture in Timothy 4:12 “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity”. Then he talk about how most of us are all still young (between 19 to 25) yet most of the people that we teach every day are our elders, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be the one’s setting the example to the world. More importantly right now to Ghana and to the people in our area. Well that was about the place where he lost me. I tired to pay attention but with my current attention span I knew it wasn’t going to happen so I started looking up scriptures on my own.  The scripture that I found that supports what he had to say in his 30 minutes of examples was:

Matt 5:

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

For us missionaries and members who are followers of Christ have the light and we must let it shine forth through the example that we set for others to see.  Let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works. People in Ghana have a lot of different thoughts about us as missionaries as they see us walking down the streets or riding our bikes. We stand out to them and they see that we are different but for the most part they only recognize us as being different by our outward appearance. White shirts, tie, name tag, black pants etc. The thing that they might not recognize is that we have the light or the gospel. I am a huge believer in examples. I am not sure where I would be today with out the great examples that I have had in my life: Todd and Sherri Berry, Tyler Parrish, all of my family, grandparents, and most recently Kimball Wing.

Sometimes all that people need is a good example in their life to get them going or to plant a seed in their heart.  Alma 32:28 says “Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts.”

How important then is it to always set a good example for people to see even though it’s not easy.  99 good examples doesn’t make up for the damage that one bad example can leave on someone. No wonder we are expected to "be ye there for perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect" we should always be examples by living his gospel and keeping his commandments.

Well in Ghana we are moving in to the rainy season. It has started to rain now and I love it. It makes it a little bit cooler some times, but the humidity goes up to like 100%. Everything is going great, I got the calendar that mom made, it is huge! Ha-ha! Happy birthday to Grandpa Parrish yesterday.

Love you all from Ghana.

I just closed my eyes for a second and thought to me self "I will not fall! I will stand tall

Hi from Laterbiokoshie,

This is my first Monday in my new area. Well all that I can say is I miss Elder Wing and I miss our clean apartment. I kind of forgot what it was like to really live in Ghana.  For the past six months I have lived in one of the nicest apartments in the mission.  When I got to my new place I felt like I had just land in Ghana again for the fist time. The place smelled terrible, no one had done dishes in probably a month, leaving cooked on rice in the bottom of all the pots. The aroma around here smells worse than when I used to clean up that old wet moldy wheat at the mill.  I had never seen a brown toilet before until I got here but then I realized they don’t make brown toilets only white ones. The shower room had stuff growing on the walls and all over the floor. Then my corner of the room had all this crap that I had to clean up before I could move in.  Over all I was pretty upset and frustrated about the whole thing. I mean I went from a pent house suite to living with house pets that would eat that little dog "Zowie" in one bite.  The rats here are so big they might even eat me and they are fearless.  I have been around the block a time or two here in Ghana and I thought I had seen it all but I get sick to my stomach to think that I might have to live here the rest of my mission.  I felt defeated like a boxer sitting in his corner bleeding from both eyes and nose, staring at the other guy just wanting to get this over with even though he doesn’t want to be the one that falls flat on his face. I just closed my eyes for a second and thought to me self "I will not fall! I will stand tall and I won’t let anyone or anything defeat me”. Then I thought to myself “faith without works is dead”, and with out faith or work I’m for sure going to be dead so I got the broom and started sweeping and cleaning the place up. This morning I have also spent some time doing some spring cleaning. Now I can say that I feel good about going home at night to sleep and not wanting to just stay out all night and work so I didn’t have to go back to the apartment.

Well other than that things are great! Elder Mudenga is really tight! He is from Zimbabwe but spent most of his time in South Africa while he was growing up. He came on mission one transfer after me and he is like 6’ 6”. He is huge; it is weird to have a black brother that is taller than me, since they are mostly shorter then I am. My new ward is really sweet, they all love missionaries so much. It’s going to be tight to get to know all of them and work with them. Our ward building is like the oldest one in Accra, so it is pretty cool to be serving in a historical area. We are really close to Accra and to the Korla bu hospital which is kind of why I think I am here, but we will see I hope I never have to go there.

There are six of us in our apartment so it gets kind of a mad house around here at times. Between all of the missionaries in our apartment there are over 20 different languages spoken. We have one from Zimbabwe/South Africa, two from Ethiopia, one from Ghana, and one from Fort Worth, Texas. Elder Quinn from Texas can speak Japanese and every one else can speak several different types of Africans languages.  Its going to be cool to be here and try to learn a little bit from each one of them and their cultures.

I don’t know if you guys remember Christian that came out with me and Elder Wollenzien in Ordokor. I ran into him at church and found out that he is in our ward.  I had to do a double take to make sure it was him. I was pumped to see him; it’s been a long time. I posted a picture of him on Picasa. Sunday was good day I got to bare my testimony in the ward except there were only like 20 people there. Most of ward members still haven’t gotten used to the time change from the beginning of the year.  Ha-ha! Hopefully they will get the hang of it before next year. After church the Stake President invited me and my companion over to his house to talk about some of the things that are going on in the stake and trying to working everything out between the missionaries and the ward leaders. Our stake president is really cool and he is really young, he loves missionaries and wants to make sure that everything is always running smoothly in the work.

Mom I got the shirts out to everyone in our zone before transfers. Everyone loved them and said thanks for them, especially all my African brothers. They were pumped they got zone shirts that they didn't have to spend money on. Transfers were good; I didn’t really know very many of the Elders because we have gotten so many new ones, so if they were not in our zone then I didn’t get a chance to know them.  It was fun to meet so many missionaries that I had not met. Well, once again I had more to say but when I get under pressure of putting it in writing I forget what happened during the week. But everything is going well, I am happy with where I am and everything is going to be okay.  Congratulations to Lone Peak 5th graders it sounds like you’re getting things done, too! Ha-ha good work! Well I hope that you all have a good week and thank you so much for all that you have done for me.

Love you all, 

Elder Berry

 

It is one of God’s commandments not steal

Hi Everyone

Well this week started off just like any other week. We had our district meeting, went over our people and talked about things that we could improve on and then we went to work. We went about doing our work all the way up until Friday when our week change for a RIDE! Friday we were on our way out to see some people at a place called Barrier. We got out of the trotro and got in to a taxi that took us to some people that we have been teaching. When we finished what we went there to do, I went for the cell phone that was in my pocket and it wasn’t there. We used a members phone to call our phone and some guy answered it and he was speaking Twi (to the trees). He told us that he was going to bring it to Barrier, so we went there and waited for almost two hours and he never showed. We called our phone later that night and it was on, but than we called it again and it was switch off. Elder Wing and I agreed that we probably lost it in the trotro or in the taxi.

On Saturday morning we went down to Mallam where we got in the trotro the day before to play CSI. We sat there on a cement block watching for every trotro that came past to see if we could find the one that took us the day before. After about an hour or so we saw him coming, so we stopped him and asked him if he had seen our phone. He told us no, so we had him take us to Barrier where we got into the taxi. We asked for the taxi driver, but he wasn’t there so the other taxi driver called him up. We waited for a while and he never showed up. By that time we had some people that we needed to see and we couldn’t call them so we just had to leave and give up on finding the phone. I called the office and told them I lost the phone and they said that they would bring us a new one on Monday, but I would have to pay for it. Ha-ha! Great, so now I got to pay for another crappy phone.

On Monday we met the Assistants to the President (oh by the way Elder Rich is now the new assistant as of this transfer) and the office elders. They brought us the new phone with the new number. After we met with them, we all went to play some football and have a good time before we all get transferred this week. We played for about an hour before taking a break and getting some water.  It was then that we noticed that our new phone and the office Elders phone was gone along with one of the footballs.  I was thinking to myself OH HECK NO NOT again! So we just went running everywhere asking people if they saw two boys running off with our stuff. We went everywhere and asked pretty much everyone in the area. After some time of looking we realized that we had caused a little scene so we told everyone that it was okay and that we were just going to leave.  I thought “oh crap another phone on my head”. So we left and started heading back home when got a call from someone that said they had found the two boys that had stolen the phones. We turned around and started flying back there because the penalty for stealing in Ghana is not correct at all, so we were more worried about the safety of the boys than we were of the phones. When we arrived there was a huge crowd of people that had gather so we quickly started telling them to go home. We were moving the crowd like a bunch of cows heading them off the road. We took the two boys aside and talked to them and helped them to understand that what they had done was not okay and that it is one of God’s commandments not steal. They finally gave the phones back and everyone went home.  We probably saved there lives that day.

Other than that we had a good week, which will be mine and Elder Wings last week together.  I will be transferred to Laterbiokoshie to be with Elder Madanga who is from Zimbabwe.  He has also spent some time in South Afirca. Next week I am sure that I will have more information about him. I am excited but I am really sad to leave this area and to leave Wing. We were both hoping for one more transfer but it looks Like President Judd has other things in mind. Elder Henderson will be coming to be with Elder Wing. Ha-ha  so Wing will get another companion from the Highland/ Alpine hood. Well I am doing fine, next time you hear from me I will be down the road closer to Accra so we will see how that goes. I hope that every one back home is doing well I am praying for you all and I love you all so much!

We DEY

love bbear

Aboni eta sin? Interpretation: (white people how are you?)

Aboni eta sin?

Interpretation: (white people how are you?)

So how was everyone’s week? It still sounds like everyone is super busy with school and basketball and everything else that is going on. For me and Elder Wing we have been busy right along with all of you. We have been all over our area this week visiting members that have fallen back small.  Our ward has a hard time doing their home teaching so a lot of the people stop coming to church when the missionaries finish the lessons. Our Bishops has asked us to go and see some of the less active people and try to work with them small again and get them back to church. For the most part it has been a great thing; we have found lots of new people as we have taught the less active members.

Two weeks ago we contacted this man named Frank. The main reason we contacted him was the shoes he was wearing. He was wearing some kind of Doc. Martins like the ones I used to wear back home. It was really random but whatever starts up a conversation and gets people talking we will use. Frank lives up on the hill and we contacted him as he was on his way home one day and he gave us his number and told us to call him. We called him like everyday for a week and his phone was either off or he didn’t answer. On Friday we went to a couple of appointments that fell through and we were near where we met Frank the first time, so we deiced to give it one more try and by the grace he answered. He came and met us and took us to his place which turned out to be just a bunch of blocks stacked up with a roof. He explained to us how he has wanted to come to the Church of Jesus Christ for a long time, but he just never knew how to do it or how to join. Elder Wing and I looked at each other and smiled and I told him that we can help you with that but first you have to be baptized. He accepted and then he wanted to know if it would be alright if he brought his whole family. Of course we said “yes”.  We are blessed to be able to continue to work with him this up coming week. 

As a young boy all the way up to leaving on a mission I enjoyed looking at the plaques of the missionaries to see where they were serving and to see what the flag looked like and the shape of the country they were in. I would also take the time to read the scripture they had engraved on them but I was more interested in where they were serving.  I haven’t seen the one in the Highland 10th ward case that say's Elder Berry with the red, yellow and green flag with a black star in the middle and the small picture of the wonderful African country of Ghana. I hope that when you boys walk down the hall and see the plaques that you will look forward to the time when your plaque is hanging up in that case which represents your willingness to serve the Lord.  I would like to talk about the scripture that I chose to be have on my plaque; a scripture that has been in the family, and has been taught by our loving parents. The scripture is one of mom’s favorites and its
Doctrine & Covenants 130:19-21. 

19 And 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.

I have learned a lot from being on a mission and serving with many different companions and people from countries around the world. If there is one thing that is consistently the same, other than the truthfulness of the gospel, is what this scripture in section 130 teaches us.  And that is all blessing that we receive come by obedience to laws. As missionaries, we have such a high law and high expectations that we are to live by. I have seen missionaries who choose to live them and I have seen missionaries who choose not to, and I have even seen missionaries who go beyond the mark. I have seen the difference in all of them and even at times in my own life as a missionary.

One of Satans’ traps is to have us believe that unquestioning obedience to the principles and commandments of God is blind obedience. His goal is to have us believe that we should be following our own worldly ways and selfish ambitions. This he does by persuading us that “blindly” following the prophets and obeying the commandments is not thinking for ourselves.

We are always having people tell us that drinking is not bad because it’s a choice and God has giving us freedom to choose.  Satan teaches that it is not intelligent to do something just because we are told by a living prophet or by prophets who speak to us from the scriptures.  Our unquestioning obedience to the Lord’s commandments is not blind obedience. We have to explain to people why as members of God’s church that we don’t do some of the things that other people do. We explain that we are not obedient because we are compelled to be obedient. We are obedient because we know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of our own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God. … We are not obedient because we are blind; rather we are obedient because we can see. I know that we are not perfect. I am far from it but I do know that as we try and do our BEST to be obedient to the covenants that we have made, God will bless us. I know this to be true.

Obedience along with most things in the gospel goes back to faith. When we use our faith to be obedient we can call this “faith obedience.” There are many examples of “faith obedience” in the scriptures. With faith, Abraham was obedient in preparing Isaac for sacrifice; with faith, Nephi was obedient in obtaining the brass plates; with faith, Samuel the Laminite was obedient and went back in to the city to cry repentance. “Faith obedience” is a matter of trust. The question is simple: Do we trust our Heavenly Father? Do we trust our prophets? Do we trust our priesthood leaders? Do we trust our parents?

For me I have been working on my "faith obedience" most of my mission.  At times I have a hard time seeing why my leaders want me to do certain things and I often ask questions like “what is the point of doing that”.  I have found that my perspective is only what is right in front of me and I can’t see what is in store for me because my heart and mind is closed.  The Lord will always know what is best for me because his perspective is different. He can see everything.  Now it is up to me to act in “faith obedience” to have faith to always be obedient.

I just want everyone to know that I am doing fine! I have had my fair share of up's and downs with my health but I am doing as well as I ever have been. We will keep fighting the storm to get through to the other side. I want to thank all of you for your support! I wish you all the best and I love you!

Love bbear

It’s now time for bigger and better things!

So what’s up everybody?

We have been really busy this week so sorry for not sending this yesterday.  I had most of this email done on Monday but thanks to the electrical company of Ghana they let me down once again.

I am trying to think of what we did this week but as I look back everything just seem to be the same. For being as busy as we were, I can’t think of much to talk about. We have been teaching a lot of new people this week and doing some finding or contacting. When we begin teaching someone we use our missionary skills to find out as much about them as we can in the first few minutes. Like their age, who they live with, are they married, do they have kids, and usually what tribe they come from.  We try to find this stuff out so we can put them in our scale of "seriousness" meaning we want to find out if they are some one who is going to: 1) come to church for 3 weeks and be baptized, 2) take a lot of teaching and convincing before they come to church, 3) or if they will become an eternal investigator who really like having the missionaries over but really have no intention of leaving their church. Then after we decide on this with the help of the spirit we can make the choice of which path to take and how fast we teach them the gospel. We have been doing a lot of that this week and for the most part we have been working with 2's and 3's but we did find some really legit 1's which we are really pumped to work with.

In Ghana New Years is bigger then Christmas for most part so this week was pretty crazy with people preparing for the New Year. For our New Year we caught some fireworks and had some sparkling apple juice and enjoyed small. People were blasting music and blowing things up all night and way into the morning so we didn’t get much sleep. We mainly just sat up and watched the fire works and everything else that was going on.

I can’t believe that it is 2012 already! It’s hard to imagine that this is the year that I will leave my home to go home. Ghana has become my home and a big part of my life.  I have come to love this country and its people.  I know when that day comes it will be difficult to leave my people and my home.

I hope that you all had a great New Year. It’s now time for bigger and better things! I am working on my goals for this up coming year and I plan on making sure that I accomplish them.  I have found that setting goals is a good thing.  It helps me to stay focused and motivated when I get discouraged or when I feel tired or weak and I just want to give up.   That’s when I review the goals that I have set and then I can see again the direction that I want to go and I find myself saying to myself “Brady, there is no way your going to be a quitter no matter how bad you want to give up” and somehow I find the inner strength and the motivation to keep on going even though sometimes I feel like I have collapsed and fallen flat on my face.  Remember brothers that we do hard things, and we do them well. Shoot for the stars!

Act in all things like everything depends on you personally, pray as if it all depends on the Lord!

I hope everyone has a good week and a great beginning to the New Year!

I love you all

bbear

Merry Christmas to every one back home!

Merry Christmas to every one back home!

 I don’t really have too much to say this week since I will be calling home on Sunday. I just wanted to wish every one a Merry Christmas.

Not much happened this week, a lot of our people have either traveled or are preparing for Christmas and New Years. (Oh yea, New Years is as big around here as Christmas.) The members here love us and they want us to come over this week so they can feed us. We will probably be eating a lot of food this week.

Friday we are going to Accra for our mission conference and talent show and stuff. It should be cool. Then on Saturday we are going to the Ahaji's and they are going to be feeding the whole mission.  After that it is Doctor Kissi's birthday so we will be going over to his place to have some more food. Just in time to gain some weight before I hit my news year’s resolution diet. Ha-ha! Elder Wing and I are going to be healthy this next year but so far we haven’t been doing a very good job at it.

Speaking of my health, we went to the hospital today to get my blood tested.  The traffic was really bad and there was no way we were going to get there on time in a car so we took a motorcycle taxi.  It was really tight but probably not the safest thing to do.  The drivers were weaving in and out of the traffic.  We did get to the hospital on time though and everything went well, so Sister Judd will be getting my test results tomorrow or sometime soon.

Yesterday in church I took all those CTR rings that mom sent me (not sure who they were for) but we went into the primary and was singing songs with the children and then we started handing out the rings and the kids went crazy.  They were so pumped to get them.  It was way tight!

Well I found out that President Judd is giving us the option to skype or to call home for Christmas. I have chosen to call on Sunday vs. skyping on Monday. Sorry for that I am not sure what you guys wanted but I would just rather see you all when I get home. I will be calling on Sunday around 9 my time, so I hope that is okay with every one. Sorry for the short letter but I am sure that we will talk about everything on Christmas.

I can’t wait to talk to everyone but this time we will try to keep it small and not talk about anything that will make someone get emotional. Okay mom, no crying this time! Ha-ha!

Everything is going well! I love you all and can’t wait to hear your voices!

love Bbear

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass

Hello Everyone,

Well it’s starting to feel like Christmas season this week. It snowed last night, so we might have a white 25th of December this year. Ha-ha! We have been waking up to our local pub/bar blasting Christmas tunes every morning. We have heard the song by Taylor Swift “Last Christmas” probably more than 100 times this week. My last Christmas here in Ghana was really sweet and one of the best that I have ever had and this Christmas will be my last in Ghana and its going to be very sweet.  Elder Wing and I are really excited about it. The pollution has moved in fully and the air is dirty. IF we walk to the top of the hill and look around it looks worse than the Salt Lake valley in the winter. It is really bad and we have been dusting plenty.

This week we were in a taxi going up to our apartment (we got really tired and lazy) but anyway the taxi driver ran over a dog and pretty much killed the bog on the spot.  We just couldn’t leave it there and let it go to waist so we went and picked it up and took it to a member that lives near by.  So anyway they prepared it up nice for us and we ended up eating it with some nice peanut soup and fufu. I felt really bad for the bog but there is a bunch of them around our place so I don’t think anyone is going to miss it.  Anyway it wasn’t bad and it filled our bellies.  It’s just kind of hard to get over the fact that you’re eating man’s best friend.

Now that you are all grossed out again, I can talk about the week and how everything is going. I almost forgot that it was transfers this past week.  Elder Wing and I didn’t get transferred this time, so we will be together for another one which will be about January 17 (I think).  Our whole district stayed the same because this transfer for the mission wasn’t very big.  I think the next transfer will be a big one.  A couple of my good friends went home this last week, Elder Boyd from Mapleton and Elder Orchard from Salt Lake. Both of them trained when I was in the MTC so I met them when I first came. It’s weird to see people that you came close to go home and move on from mission life but that time comes for every one.

Elder Wing and I are still killing it here together. We get along very well and I feel that it is helping in our work and in the relationships we have with our friends / investigators. We got six correct people to church this week, and we are working with them to have them return this upcoming week. There is so much to be done and just doesn’t seem like there is enough time in the day to fit it all in. Kind of sounds like some of you back home are feeling like that too. The Holidays are bringing plenty of things for us to do, and the time is small, small. There is a little thing that I think that we could all put in our time this Holiday season and that would be finding joy through serving others.

In Elder Ballard’s talk last conference he told a story about a man who sold everything he had to head to California during the gold rush. The young man worked hard digging for gold to make so he could earn a fortune. He looked and looked for that one big nugget of gold that would make him rich. The pile of rocks was the only thing that was getting in his way. After a while the man became discouraged because he had not found any gold and he began to believe that there was no gold so he decided to go home. Then one day an old man walked up to him and explained that there was plenty of gold in those rocks. The man took two of the rocks from the pile and smashed them together.  Inside the rocks were small flakes of gold. The old man had a bag on his waist that was full of gold, but full of the small flakes.

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. And by very small means the Lord … bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37:6–7). Alma teaches us in this scripture that we need to spend more time looking for the small flakes of gold less time wondering where the big nugget is. It’s the small and simple things that bring about great and wonderful things. I know that this Christmas we are not all going to find that huge big nugget of gold under the tree or wrapped in a box. But I know that we can all bring great things to pass, by the small and simple acts of service that we can do for one another. Small acts of service can bring us wonderful feelings of love from Our Heavenly Father which is a lot better feelings than the ones you get when you open that biggest, and baddest present that was under the tree. 

I read a book yesterday (yes me, and I read the whole thing from start to finish in like 3 hours.) The book was really good and it talked about a man who went against everything that his ego stood for to give a family who had nothing the best Christmas of their lives. I can’t remember the title but it is the new version of the "Cracked Wheat for Christmas". It was really good and helped me see that it is so much better to be a giver than a receiver. I would recommend to you that you read it this year, since it is like the first book that I have ever read all the way through since "Holes". (I don’t even think I ever even read it.  I probably just watched the movie.)

I hope that you all have a good week; I’m not sure when you get out of school but I hope that you enjoy your break! And in a couple of Sundays we will be able to talk more about that kind of stuff. Have fun in the snow.

Peace and love

bbear

I hope to be more like Alvin and be the better big brother.

Hi Everyone,

I hope that Bronson had a good birthday yesterday and that Brody has a good one tomorrow. Wow, a big 18, that means next year you’re coming to Africa. It will be a bomb and you will kill it here! I have the best brothers around.

Speaking of brothers, this week we were watching the Joseph Smith movie with some investigators. I’m not sure how many times I have watched that movie (mom remember when you dragged all of us up to Salt Lake in the pouring rain to watch that movie for the first time ha-ha) but I bet I have watched it more then 50 times with converts and investigators since being on my mission and I think I pretty much have it memorized.  Kind of like when I had “What Happens in Vegas memorized. Ha-ha! Well the point is that I have watched it a lot but this week when I watched it I got something a little bit different out of it. I never really noticed how much Alvin Smith does for his younger brother Joseph. Alvin was always right there to support his younger bothers in everything that they did. He was right there holding Joseph as he under went his painful surgery as a child. Alvin was right there in defending his younger bother as people began to make fun of him for his vision. In the movie Alvin’s last words to Joseph before he died was "do everything that you can to obtain the record”. Alvin is such a good example to me of how an older brother should be to his younger brothers.  How easy would it have been for Alvin to question “why Joseph and not me” kind of like how Laman and Lemuel were to their younger brother Nephi. Alvin was a great example of how an older brother should be; someone who was more interested in the well being of those around him than of himself. I hope to be more like Alvin and be the better big brother.

This week we had a baptism for the boy that we have been working with named Prosper. Prosper is way correct. He is staying with his uncle who lives pretty far from the chapel. He came to church by himself and was the first one there before any one else. He is a cool kid and we are excited to have him come out with us and teach people that live around his place.

This week we went out with Brother Nielson from our ward. Brother Nielson is probably one of the most correct members in our ward. He pretty much does everyone’s home teaching for them. He is the High Priest group leader and he is on top of everything. He lives pretty close to our apartment so we have done a lot of contacting around his place in the past. Since I have been here I felt like I have contacted almost every compound around his place. He called us up the other day and told us that he want to have another branch in this area by next year so we needed to start baptizing more people.  I thought “o.k. that’s nice but how are we going to do that when I have already contacted all these people?”  Then he tells me that he wants to go out contacting with us to help us find some people to teach. I couldn’t believe it! In the two hours that he went out with us we found more people than we have ever contacted on our own. For an area that I though we had hit pretty hard I now realize that we haven’t even put a dent in it. It is amazing how much members can help when they have a testimony of missionary work like Brother Nielson. Members can bring out a completely different group of people than we as missionaries can find on our own. More likely than not they are the ones who will stay in the church for a long time. I love this area and love being with Elder Wing. I’m pretty sure that we are both staying here together for one transfer.  We will find out for sure tomorrow.

Just yesterday we were up on the hill talking with some members when we saw this black flash and then heard a crash. We walked over to see what had happened and realized that the black flash was some guy that was flying down the hill on his bike and had wrecked. His bike was all bent up and he was bleeding like mad out of his head. We ran down to help him and to see if he was still alive. He hit his head really bad and got knocked out small. We quickly called for some water and gloves (I feel bad but we are not allowed to touch bleeding people without gloves because of HIV) we cleaned him up and cut some weed down and used the root as a natural anti-biotic. Then the members that we were with brought down some perfume and sprayed it on his head. Ha-ha!  I guess it worked because he got up and left. I hope he went to the hospital to get his head sewed up but who knows.
   
I heard about the First Presidencies Christmas devotional that was yesterday.  It seems like their focus was to help us remember the Saviors gift to the world and not the worldly gifts. The Savior indeed gave us a gift of a life time when He died for us. Not just for this life time but for eternal life. Without the Savior’s gift to us it would not be possible for us to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Every day my understanding of the atonement grows. I pray continually for my understanding to increase in my life so that I can help other people with theirs. The atonement is real. Jesus Christ did pay for my sins in the garden and he knows me because he has walked in my shoes.

Well lets all remember this for the Christmas season that is coming up. If our lives and our faith in all things are centered upon Jesus Christ, His atonement, and his restored gospel then nothing can ever permanently be WRONG. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings then there is no happiness that can ever be permanent. RIGHT!

Love you all, keep it real,

Love bbear


P.S.  Barcelona and Real Madrid are playing on Saturday. People around here are getting ready for it. If you don’t hear from me next week it’s because I knocked on some ones door during the game and they beat me up. Ha-ha! Just kidding!


This is an email we received today from Elder Wing's father today.

I heard from the Elder Wing today.  Wow what a week Elder Berry and Elder Wing had, actually, what a life  they are having.  Sounds like they will be together for another 6 weeks.  Kimball so respects your son and feels a real friendship with him.  I know that Elder Berry is having an amazing impact on Kimball and his growth as a missionary and as a young man.  Thanks for raising such a fine young man.  I hope to meet him and you some day to personally thank you.  Kimball’s twin brother Stevo entered the MTC last week,  this will be an experience.  He is headed to Paraguay Asuncion North.  Flies out Jan. 30.  What a whirlwind.  Thanks again.  Phil Wing

People are so grateful for what they have, even if they don’t have very much or the most ideal things

Hello Everyone,

I hope that every one had a good Thanksgiving! Sorry I didn’t write yesterday, we had some major lights off this weekend. But it’s on for the moment so I am grateful for that. The Ghana sun is getting very high in the sky and the heat is pounding us. It is really dry too. When you get out of the shower and start sweating, you sweat mud from all the dust in the air. But you got to love it while it last.

This week was another fast one. Elder Wing and I did a lot of work and things are rolling here!! This is probably one of the best and funnest parts of my mission. Everything is just going so well. I couldn’t be more happy and thankful for that! We found some tight people this week, and we are pumped to work with them. Just about every day we meet someone that we are able to teach lessons to. I wish I could be more specific on how we do it but I got to get this email off before the lights go off again.

I can’t remember if I talked about our crazy Nigerian friend Aba Jones. She is married to a man from Florida and we met her a while back because her kids are pretty much white. She is pretty much nuts.  She told us that she has seen Christ and that she is perfect and will never die. We got her to church and she didn’t stay very long. Pretty much everything that went down in our investigators class was not good. Ha-ha! She got us way off the lesson and we couldn’t control her. She has some weird doctrines that she believes in that conflict with Christ’s true church. I feel like we did everything we could. We got her reading the Book of Mormon and we got her to church so now we are going to turn her back over to the Lord to work on.

We got five new people at church this Sunday. I am really pumped!! We have been so blessed with people to teach and who are willing to come to church. I believe that most of these people came to church because of the way we used the Book of Mormon with them. We don’t leave lessons anymore without using the Book of Mormon. There is 100% power in the Book of Mormon, 100% power to remember the name!

This week we had an insane lightning storm. Clouds came out of no where and lightning was hitting the ground everywhere. We ran home and we were pretty scared but no harm was done to us. I wish I could have got some of it camera. It was flashing like every 15 seconds for some time. I thought the end of the world had come. 

The following day we were in a tro-tro going out to a place called Choice when the retarded driver stopped in an intersection to insult a man when we got rear-ended by some other retarded driver who wasn’t paying attention. I was sitting in the back right where we got nailed and I hit my head but Elder Wing was there to give me CPR so everything was alright. Elder Wing got some whiplash but he is a champ and working through it. Then on Sunday we were headed to church in another tro-tro when the driver pulled over because the engine was smoking. He got out and opened the hood and it was in flames, so everyone panicked and was fighting to get out. Some lady pushed me out on and I lit on my face, and then she started running away screaming. It was really quite funny because they put the flames out and got back in the car and drove away. Crazy things happen in Ghana but God bless Africa.

I can’t believe that the next time I hear from you guys it will be December. Bronson happy birthday on the 4th. I am really excited for Christmas this year (not because it is the last one in Ghana ha-ha) but Christmas here is like Thanksgiving back home. People are so grateful for what they have, even if they don’t have very much or the most ideal things. They know that there is a God and they love him, and are willing to serve him.

Well, I better send this much before they cut the power again. Ha-ha!

I love you guys!

We all have so much to be grateful for.

My people what’s up?

It sounds like the weekend was nuts! I am pumped for you guys! Now let’s go bring one more home in b-ball!

Sorry about not getting this to you yesterday, we have had lights off and no water for some time now. Ha-ha! No big deal though we still find a way to get things done. I am thankful for electricity and water when we have it. As I sit here to write this letter and I look back on the week, everything is a blur.  I am not sure what happened this week, or what happened a month ago. Time is moving too fast, so be patient with me if I tell a story that I have already told before.

Alright, so about the malaria, no one needs to worry about me because I have been taken care of and everything is fine. I am thankful for all your prayers that I have received from all of you over the past week and even for the past year. This has been a team effort from the "get go" and I couldn’t have done it with out you. Every single one of you!

This week we did a lot of contacting in some areas that we haven’t really been much. All I have to say is that I love Ghana. Never a down moment, there is always some little kid yelling "abroni" (hey white boy) or even seeing strangers at dinner time and having them freely invite us to come in and “chop” with them. We meet a lot of cool people and are excited to work with them and to become their friends. I am grateful for that.

We met this family in particular this week that is very tight. I’m not sure of their last name but we met their oldest daughter Ester at her work. We got talking to her and we asked if we could come and visit her and her family. She told us to come over on Sunday after church. So after church we called her and went to meet her and when we got to her house they had a small little table set and ready for us to eat. They fed us banku and this stuff called fanti fanti. It was my first time eating fanti fanti and let me tell you it was a bomb and I mean a real bomb. It was so HOT but it was really good too and I am grateful for them feeding us. It turns out that the mother is a single parent of 4 girls and two boys. They are one of the most correct families that I have met here. They are so kind and thoughtful! They are open to the gospel and I know that we can convert them with the Lords help. We will have some problems trying to get them all here because they live far away and don’t really have the money to travel in trotros. I know that the Lord will provide a way for it to happen though. He always does. Man, I wish that you guys could just meet some of these people. They are way correct.

Elder Wing and I set a goal at the start of the week to use the Book of Mormon in every single lesson that we taught. We did a lot of teaching and I can honestly say that the Book of Mormon was open in every single lesson. My love for the Book of Mormon grows every day and I hope that it never stops. We have had a few days when we have been late getting out the door because we are stuck going through the Book of Mormon. We have realized that there is so much to learn and not much time to learn it. But it is so nice to have a Mission President a phone call away that can answer any doctrinal questions that we might come across in our study or even questions from investigators. President Judd is smart. He knows so much about the scriptures and doctrines that sometimes he blows me away. I am thankful for him and his wife.

I am not sure when Aaron will be around. I think this is his U.S. number 19165297054. Last I heard he will be in California for Thanksgiving. I honestly have no idea when he will be coming back to Ghana. It might not be forever. Ha-ha! He loves the cold weather and the FOOD way to much. When he comes around you can’t miss him because he is a big black man that you might not be able to understand what he is saying but he does have a good American accent. I sent some need fufu with him so have him teach you the correct way to make groundnut soup with it. That one is my favorite!

I couldn’t be more thankful for my family. Todd, happy b-day on Sunday. Sherri, Brody, Braxton, Bronson, Britton, Hollie, and Miriah I love you guys you are the best! Thanks for everything that you have done for me.

It would take me a long time to list every one else that has help me in my life and while I’ve been on my mission, but I am grateful for all of you and I think of you and pray for you all!

I hope that you all have a good Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for. Make sure that you count all those blessing. We are so bless.

I am grateful for all of you!

I love you guys!

Keep it real!

Love “B”

I have Malaria.

Hi Everyone,

It sounds like every one had a great week back home. Lone Peak looks like they are going to add another school state championship. You better go get it! That is sick! This week for me went really fast, it also be a week to remember FOREVER! Ha-ha! I mean foreverrrrr.  I will get to that in a minute.

Aaron left last night. He is going to California for a couple of days and then to Utah. I think he should be in Utah by Thursday. He does have one of my suit cases, but most of the stuff in it is for Elder Wings family.  I did send my shoes and a few other things, like more jerseys, some of my mail, two ties, a wooden thing, and two more paintings. Aaron doesn’t really know when he will be coming back.  It will be either 10 days or maybe not until Christmas. I’m pretty sure it will be around 10days.

This past Wednesday Aaron came over to our place to pick up the suit case. We got talking about how it’s going to be really weird that he is going to be in Utah at my home and I will be at his home here in Ghana. Before he left he told me that I didn’t look very good and wanted me to come down to the hospital and spend the night, but I just told him that I was fine and that I just need to get some sleep because I was tired. The next day we forgot to put some stuff in the suit case so we took it down to the hospital. When we got there Dr. Kissi asked me if I wanted a blood test and I told him no that I was fine and that I just have a small cold. But Aaron’s sister grabbed my hand and dragged me into the lab and took my blood.  I guess it turns out that I have Malaria. Well let me tell you that malaria BLOWS big time! Ha-ha! I felt like I was going to die for a couple of days. I guess there is like 3 stages of Malaria. I caught it at the first stage so I am thankful for Dr. Kissi and his family for being inspired to have me checked out. But malaria is not good at all.

On Friday we got up early and went in to Accra so we could go to the Temple. The temple experience was tight as always but it was hard to sit there having malaria. I fell asleep in the celestial room and when I woke up every one was gone but Elder Wing.  He was just sitting there next to me waiting for me to wake up. While I was in the temple I thought it was so cold that any minute it was going to start snowing, but on my way out I looked at the temperature gage and it read 75 degrees.

I really love the temple and I can’t wait to be able to go every week or when ever I want to. It has been a long time since we have been able to go and it was a spiritual re-booster for me. After the temple we went straight to the mission home to have our interviews with President Judd. President Judd and I didn’t spend much time together because he just wanted me to lie down and take it easy. I was pretty out of it and I don’t really remember much about what we talked about. I do know that we talked about the Atonement and the plan of salvation and how as missionaries we can always do better to applying the atonement in our lessons. Most people in Ghana have a belief in Jesus Christ and that he came into the world to die for us but most don’t really understand the full meaning behind the atonement. We have been trying to get more on a personal level with every one of the people that we are teaching but it’s not easy.  I often lose track of who is who, but by Gods grace we are working miracles here in Ghana.

With thanksgiving coming up I just want my family to know how thankful I am for them and all that they have done for me. I am grateful.

Well I am doing better.  I have been taking medication and the malaria is slowly going away.  If any one has questions please let me know because I feel like I’m running out of things to say in my letters.  Ha-ha!

But I just want you to know that I love you guys. Go get them Lone Peak. Brody knock someone out for me.

NOah halla peace Bbear