Last week of Transfer and Crazy news!

Hanging loose in Rwanda....hair cut week....(not sure they know what to do with red white boy hair but who cares, he looks so happy :) )

Hello! I love those pictures of snow and of the leaves falling and changing color. Makes me miss Pocatello and kind of weird to see those things because it is the same temperature here as when I got here. It is also good to hear about the Jazz getting off to a good start. 

Anyways, this week has been a great week for me and Elder Empey. On Monday we taught a part member family. We taught the husband and this is the first time that he has been open to even hearing a lesson from the missionaries, so hopefully his heart can continue to be softened and we can help him find the truth. 

On Tuesday, we went on exchanges with K3 again. This time Elder Ngwenya came to K2 with me and Elder Empey went with Elder Anderson. It was a good day with Elder Ngwenya from Zimbabwe. He is a funny guy and a good missionary. There were a few frustrating lessons that day and sometimes it is hard when people just don't understand our message or are caught up on one little thing, but I've learned that Patience isn't a Christ-like attribute for no reason. We need to be patient with others and see them as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would see them.

Elder Ngwenya and Elder Beck

Elder Beck and Elder Anderson

On Wednesday, we had our ZDM (Zone Development Meeting). It was good and I learned a lot from all the other missionaries. It is tradition to go to Simba's for a cheeseburger afterwards and it was delicious. 

On Thursday, we had a busy day of lessons and we taught Alphonse. He is preparing for baptism on the15th of November. He is almost ready and we have just a few things to cover until he is ready. He is funny guy and has a lot of funny questions. For Example, why we don't baptize the person face first because then they wouldn't have to plug their nose.(ha ha , good point!)  We also finished General Conference that night and watched the last of Sunday Afternoon.

On Friday we had a very busy day. We also had weekly planning and the next transfer looks very bright and looks to be a very good transfer. We have at least one baptism scheduled for every sunday of the transfer except the last. I have the faith that it will happen, but faith without works is dead, so I know that i have to do my part and not just hope for it to happen. On Saturday it was another busy day full of lessons. 

Sunday was awesome.We got to church early and as it got closer and closer to 10 it seemed like we were going to have an average attendance, but people just coming in. We ended up with 58 and few more showed up right after sacrament. We almost filled up every seat. We also had a lot of our investigators show up to almost double last week. Then after church we had a rabbit dinner from one of the members. It was really good. Then we committed another investigator to a baptism date. And then we got fed again by another family! It was a really good day. T

Today was the day we got transfer news. It was pretty exciting. I learned that I am staying in K2 branch, but Elder Empey is being transferred back to Uganda to be a Zone leader there. Also the other two in our apartment are going to Uganda also (Elder Ngwenya and Elder Anderson). My new companion will be Elder Wilson. From what I hear, he is a great missionary and he has been out for 13 Transfers or so. He will be the new Zone Leader. There will only by 6 Elders in Rwanda now not 8. Two elders from K1 branch are coming to K3 branch now. So now only 2 Elders in each branch instead of 4 in K1 and 2 in the other branches. Very unexpected. It is sad to know the other 3 Elders in my apartment will leave. Especially Elder Empey because we were going to have a great next transfer. Also, the next two transfers will be combined and there will be no transfer news at 6 weeks because of Christmas. So everyone will be the same for the next 12 weeks. Crazy.

Overall this week has been one of the best so far. Nothing too exciting happened, but me and Elder Empey had a very successful week. We had great numbers and also the branch is getting excited and the branch is finding a lot of people for us to teach which is the best way to do it. It also has been a great transfer. I can't believe is already over. I've learned so much and experienced so much. 

One scripture I am ponderizing in this upcoming week is 3 Nephi 7:18. Nephi had so much faith that they could not disbelieve his words. Also a great chapter on Faith is Ether 12. In my scripture study I've been reading in Helaman and I love 3:29 and 4:13. With our own strength we are nothing, but with God we can be great. Alright have a great week and thanks for the emails. I love you.

Love Elder Beck

Elder Beck likes to send us a nature picture

Typical day for missionaries in Rwanda (Elders Ngwenya, Anderson, Empey)

ANSWERS TO MOM'S QUESTIONS:

1. How's the weather? Do you need anything? Sounds like another good week at home. I definitely miss the cool weather and the leaves and the snow, but it is good here too. I don't need anything, but something that could be nice would be some stain remover stuff. 

2. Are there any holidays there? There aren't really any holidays yet other than Umuganda day. Which is every month where everyone does community service and the roads are shut down. 

3. How can we be better member missionaries? To be a better missionary as a family would be to never be afraid to share about the gospel. No effort is wasted. 

4. What do you find interesting about the people in Africa? The people here are friendly when you talk to them, but when they are driving they are not so nice.   :)