Merry Christmas!!!

Smiley Elder Beck in his apartment
His hair is getting long
His skin is not getting darker
Lock on his door
Lists on his walls
He's happy.
love him

Hello! This week was a great week! The lord is blessing us seriously right now and is making life fun.

We are teaching some great families right now. We are teaching this one. Their names are Julius and Ida. We were asking Julius about the Book of Mormon and he starts almost quoting and saying exactly what the introduction says, but every few sentences he stops and says " Am I on track?" haha. And I was like... yes exactly on track!! They both came to church on Sunday. Another family we are teaching is Alex and Helen. They are super prepared. They want to get married in the church right now, but they are probably going to have to pay the bride price to the parents first so that could take some time. Another one is William and Justine. They are awesome, but Justine's parents don't want her to get married in this church. Then we have a ton of other families that we are working with as well.

It was a dry week this week, but on Friday we had some rain which was nice. We also thought we were locked out of the church for institute, but it turns out the back door was open.............

Saturday was a not easy day for me. The day before I bought some Chapate and I woke up on Saturday with some stomach problems. I was resting most of the day. I got out a little bit, but it wasn't too fun,

Luckily on Sunday we had a great day. We had 3 and 1/2 of those families come to church. They are talking with the branch president about marriage and even a guy that has a family came to church that Sunday and we taught him and his family after church. The Lord is blessing us and bringing people to us right now. And now this week is Christmas week so things are really going well right now. We also have some part member people that we are teaching right now that could be baptized at the beginning of January right now. 

This week I have been studying through 3 Nephi and Christ's ministry with the Nephites and it is great because Christmas is here. Also I read this book that had different stories about Christmas service and things and it really brought the Christmas spirit into my life. ha. But what I noticed when I was reading those things is that Christ set the perfect example and taught us everything we need to DO. He tells us not to just hear, but to DO. DO what he did. He served and that is how we can hold up our light 3 Nephi 12:16, 3 Nephi 18:24. That is the true meaning of Christmas is to do what Jesus Christ did and serve and give and love. We can light up the entire world! The savior set the perfect example for us! Let us follow it! Have a great week.

Love Elder Beck

Mom questions!!!!

1.  Who does the cooking in your apartment?  Are you learning any new recipes?

Usually I cook for myself. I am not really learning any new recipes. I can kind of make chapate. Some other things we make. Not too special....

2. Does the weather change much in Uganda?  same temp just a rainy season?

The weather is usually the same all year round. It feels the same as it was in July......

3.  How do folks with handicaps get around in Uganda?  Wheelchairs? crutches? stay home?

Some have wheelchair bikes. Some use crutches. I have only seen one wheelchair and it was made with a plastic lawn chair......... I think a lot just have to stay home......

4.  Do you think your mission has changed you?  If so, how?

Yes misison has changed me. It has changed me in helping me come closer to Christ and be more like him.......

5. How was your week?  

Sounds like a good week there. Here it was a nice week. We enjoyed and found a lot of success. It is good to be here in Lugazi right now. We are finding a lot of good things happening. There is only one problem here in Uganda. Legal Marriage.............. We are teaching 9 families ( husband and wife) right now. We even had 3 and 1/2 come to church this Sunday. The only problem is with marriage problems. But we are teaching a lot of awesome families right now. Which is fun.  (most of the couples they are teaching are not legally married d/t the cost of the bride price)

6.  (Teigan)  Are there any traditions for an African Christmas I should know about? 

Most people here go to the village for Christmas and eat Matoke. 

Matoke....plantain banana treat

Not too many traditions here. There seem to be a lot of people getting CIRCUMCISED here though. SO i am not sure if that is a tradition for Christmas.... hahaha. 

(Sister Collings also blogged about this occurence recently.  Males between the ages of 16 and 22 being circumcised as a manhood ritual and to attract tourism??     more info here....http://www.vice.com/read/uganda-is-using-adult-circumcision-rituals-to-attract-tourism-1024  )

Good things this week. Have a great week this week. See you on Christmas. Love you.  Elder Beck



(NOTE TO ALL.... hopefully we will be both hearing his voice and seeing his face via web cam early Sunday morning here in Pocatello.  THANK YOU ALL for praying that the missionaries will find families to teach. It is working...in many cases the families are coming to them.  Now I guess we just need to pray that they can get married!  Keep praying people. thanks.)