Well family, Transfers are here. I can’t
believe Elder Bigler and I have spent 6 weeks with each other already...time
has literally flown. I have gained a brotherhood with him and we will
always stay in touch, I will miss the kid! First I wanted to say how much I
love your emails, Mom, Dad, Colby, thank you so much, even if they are short,
right to the point emails they mean the world to me. I was thinking this
morning how lucky I am to have a family that emails me every week, know I love
you three more than words can describe! I am glad Colby you are playing man, just have fun my
brother enjoy every day of high school they go by fast little brother, I have
talked about it with Bigler how lucky I am to be home to spend your senior year
with you, I’m pumped for that. Mom I am so proud of you that’s amazing
you ran that fast, my mom’s a stud no doubt, but more importantly I am more
proud that you have turned to the lord for help regarding your decision.
I know that with whatever decision I make in Life I will turn to the lord
first, proud of you mom!
This week I wanted to just remind you
of conference coming up. One of my bucket lists goal was to go to
conference with the family when I arrive home but I would encourage you to not
wait for me, maybe not this one but try to go to the next. I am reminded
of when I listened to Bednar, when that man bore his special testimony of Jesus Christ never in my life have I had such a strong
impression that, that man was an apostle of the Lord. I know without a
doubt he is called of our Heavenly Father and hearing that testimony is beyond
words.
This week though was kind of a short
week. We had Zone Training Council on Tuesday and that took up almost the
whole day, then on Wednesday my companion got called to train so he had to go
to Accra, so I went on an exchange with a kid from Uganda and so those days
were cut in half, so basically all we had was Friday. Friday was a great
normal day just the usual. Saturday was sweet though we had our
baptism. S he is a great kid, he is 17 years old and very shy but he
has entered into the waters of baptism and it was by far the best going away
gift from Oda I could have, I felt blessed to have served here.
This week though Mommy B, expressed to me some very deep concerns. I truly love this family
and all I want is for them to stay faithful in this gospel. We talked and
she said something that was very familiar to me, she said Elder Carson, "I
won’t leave this church, I go to church to serve God, and that’s it, no one
else," I have heard this many times in my life by my sweet and loving
mother. Mom this brings tears to my eyes as I write this but I am so
thankful for you and your example...know I love you mom!! Mommy B then
went on to say the reason she won’t leave and she has this faith is she said
" Elder Carson, I won’t ever leave because of you" I know why I
was supposed to be in Oda for 6 months and I know the lords reason for me
coming here...I have been truly blessed! I will say my goodbyes to her
this evening.
Well transfers are here haha and I’m
going to Accra. It’s in Kasoa, and its literally like in the rich part of
Accra. I loved the
people of Oda but at least my English is good for when I go there. My
companion is Elder Giles, he is from Utah.
Well family I wanted to ask you to
watch a video on You Tube called The Wall by the Anime Series. I wanted
to bear my testimony that I know this church is true! Dad I’m right there
with you I am glad to be a quarter of the way done but as well it has
strengthened my testimony beyond words. I have had the opportunity to
defend our faith from literally every faith in the world, using only the
bible. I have gained such a strong testimony of the Bible and I know that
this is the lord’s church once again established on the earth. I love the
Book of Mormon though so dang much, I literally get over excited to study and
get pissed when something disrupts it, I know it’s true. You know a lot
of peoples testimony dwindle on Joseph Smith and I have thought about it a lot
and just put joseph smith aside, look at the teaching, the principals the
doctrines, they all follow the lords teaching, then look at the book of Mormon,
that book has to be true, no one can just write that, especially not Joseph
Smith, this uneducated farm boy. The book of Mormon literally has no contradictions,
and its perfect in Grammar that book has to be true. That means if the
book is true, then joseph is true, then this has to be the lords church. Again
just put everything aside and look at the facts, it reminds me of saying
president Uchdorf said "doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith"
Family I love you three so much words! I can’t wait to
hit the one year mark. Only one more of what we have just done :) I can’t
wait to call in just a little over a couple months. I love you three tons!!!
Love you Tons!!
Elder Duke
