Elder Beck's African Adventure: 6 months!!!

Hello everyone!

This was an awesome week. A lot of great things came about. Lets start from the beginning. Tuesday we had an awesome day. We were pretty much full with lessons all day. We even met an awesome family that we called after we had almost forgotten about him in our Potential Investigators numbers. On Wednesday we had exchanges with K2 with Elder Mumba and also a great District Meeting. In K2 we met with an investigator that I even started teaching. He is pretty well off, so he took us to lunch for his lesson. Right after we just had a big lunch ourselves. I was stuffing myself and was super comfy. ha. He is also doing really well. Then we visited some RC's(recent converts) even some that I was there for their baptism. It was great to see them still going well in the gospel and to see how they have changed even more for the better from the gospel. This gospel is true and it changes peoples lives.

On Thursday it was St. patty's day so I borrowed a green tie from Elder Koopmans. We did some sweet street contacting after we got bounced in the morning. We also visited Silver a recent convert that we haven't seen in a long time at church and guess what! We saw him there this Sunday. Powerful! We also stopped and got these super nice Samosa's. They are an egg and meat inside a fried shell. Super delicious probably not the healthiest. haha. On Friday it was Elder Koopmans 19th birthday! We also met with the awesome family we met earlier in the week and he had already read 65 pages of the Book of Mormon! And he was saying that he was sorry for not reading more. He says he can finish it by next week. I was pumped man!!! When people read the Book of Mormon they will know that it is true. That is one of the hardest things here. Is getting the people to read the Book of Mormon, but when they do. They know it is true. Then to celebrate Elder Koopmans we had dinner at Bizimana's house. Super Nice. We had a great time and even Elder Koopmans got water dumped on his head. hahaha.

Saturday we had an awesome day as well. We had some great appointments in the morning and we even had a couple of baptism interviews for our area and K2. so for me I went to K2 in the evening because of the interviews. Also a Marriot hotel is opening soon. I think in May and everyone is applying for jobs. On Sunday we had an great Sabbath. Super great service. Investigators showed up to church and we had an awesome baptism for Aarron. His brother Jordan baptized him and it was a great service. We also got fed by Juan and Jane in the evening. Some homemade mac and cheese. Delicious. Biraryoshe!(Kinyarwanda). Today we played some Rugby in the morning. First time playing RUgby and I had a blast super fun sport. ELder Myers is the Rugby player back home.. Anyways it was a great week. And this week should be great as well because we even have a baptism this week as well. Also the last week of the transfer. So who knows what is going to happen.

I learned a lot this week, but something that stood out to me this week was faith and obedience. They are the first principle of the gospel and the first law of heaven. First it means the beginning, the foundation. So first we need to have faith and increase our faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement. Then we need to be obedient to all of God's commandments. Then everything else will fall into place. Especially here on mission and also in our everyday lives. Also something awesome that happend this week was we had an investigator who has two children and one was very very sick. Something that has been holding her back from coming to church, but last week she was able to come to church. She loved it and the next time we came to visit her. Her child was improving so much. I knew it was a blessing that came to her from keeping the commandments. It was a miracle that happened. It strengthened my faith and I know it strengthened her faith as well. Anyways thanks for the support and the love. Have an awesome week and a great Easter. Love you.

Love Elder Beck

Happy brothers.... Jordan and Aaron

Jordan?, Elder Koopmans, Aaron (who got baptized), Jordon (who did the baptizing), Elder Beck
Big Day!

All I see is HAPPINESS here.

MOM questions....

Hello Mother,

I am doing fine on mission. Everything is going well. We had a baptism on Sunday and will have one this upcomingSunday as well. Things are going well. It is the last week of the transfer and who knows what the next transfer has in store. Happy Birthday Gpa!

1. Do the people you teach have difficulty believing that Joseph Smith did what he did and saw what he saw in helping to restore the gospel?

Some do some don't. It is really both ways. Some just believe right away, others have a hard time believing Joseph Smith. Most people believe in the Book of Mormon, but don't always see what the Book of Mormon really means.

2. What are the concerns and worries of the people you teach or that live in Rwanda? Food, shelter, jobs, illness?

The concerns of this people are finding jobs, providing food for their families, and shelter, and illness. I have seen it all. People asking for help in all of these areas. It is a problem because people see two white guys in nice clothes as missionaries and think that we can give them money or a place to stay, but we can't and it sometimes gets in the way of teaching. They don't always see that the gospel is what they need and not always money.

3. The new Provo temple was dedicated today. What is the closest temple for your people? How many of the members (percentage)there have been through the temple?

The closest temple is the Johannesburg temple, but people here have to go to the Ghana temple because people here can't get visas to South Africa. Most people haven't gone to the temple. it is just the returned missionaries and maybe a couple people in each branch that have gone. It is difficult to get there for most people.

Thanks mother. Have a great week. I love you.

Love Elder Beck